olivier “twist” gondry.

One of my favourite famous directors (I’m an even bigger fan of those that toil in a little more obscurity) is Michel Gondry. He directed what is easily one of the best music videos of all time – the unbelievable “Jóga” by Björk. If you haven’t seen it your life is incomplete, and I suggest watching it immediately.

Today, I discovered that Michel’s brother, Olivier “Twist” Gondry, is an equally-impressive, if not as well known, film and video visionary. I found a short film of his on one of my fave sites, Fresh Creation. In “Behind”, he compresses a 7-day road trip from LA to NYC into this 4-minute (very) short film:

I also like this spot he did last year for Nike Latin America, “Live. Run.” The Gondrys definitely don’t shy away from playing with the notion of time and space in their work, and the concept of the starting off at both the beginning and end of the day and then watching (the latter timeline moving in reverse, the earlier timeline moving forward) life eventually collide at one moment in the very middle is pure awesome. If done well, this kind of chronological comparison is such a fantastic device – for proof, check out Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” or Jason Robert Brown’s “The Last 5 Years”. Plus, let’s be honest, it doesn’t hurt that there’s a cute, sweaty latin guy jogging around, either…

(Agency: Wieden + Kennedy Portland. Production: Paranoid US)

I was most excited to realize that he also directed one of my favourite campaigns of last year – the visually crazy Hewlett Packard spots featuring Paulo Coehlo, Vera Wang, and (stereotypical sibling rivlary pun ignored here…) Michel Gondry.

(Agency: Goodby Silverstein. Production: Partizan)