The greatest music video of all time, according to Benny Safdie: “This video transcends”
The Oscars next year are likely to have a heavy presence from the Safdie brothers, but this time it will be individually, as both Josh and Benny Safdie have each directed movies expected to feature prominently in terms of Marty Supreme and The Smashing Machine, which I’ve just realised would make a fantastic semi-rhyming name for a band.
And staying on those lines, both Safdie brothers have also directed music videos in the past when they haven’t been busy working as a pair on movies like Uncut Gems and the brilliant thriller Good Time with Robert Pattinson.
They helmed clips for the likes of Jay-Z for his 2017 song ‘Marcy Me’ and two for the American composer Oneohtrix Point Never back in 2020. Benny Safdie is also going to have music at the heart of his next project, starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson from The Smashing Machine, and that’s Lizard Music, the bizarre tale adapted from a 1970s sci-fi novel of a boy who sees a band of actual lizards making music on TV and wants to learn more about them. OK then.
Safdie, who picked up the ‘Best Director’ award at the Venice Film Festival this year for his first movie with Johnson, is a big fan of music videos in general, together with his brother, and they spoke to Pitchfork about some of their favourites down the years. One favourite in particular of both directors was the 1984 electro-pop classic ‘Smalltown Boy’ by Bronski Beat of which Benny said: “This video transcends music videos,” and Josh concurred, explaining:
“The director, Bernard Rose, also made (1992 horror) Candyman, and the video stars the lead singer of Bronski Beat, Jimmy Somerville. It deals with the complications of being gay in a small town, and going to the city because that’s where you can be free – but the city has all these trappings, too. It’s sad.”
Benny added: “I don’t have that same experience, but I can see this video and be like, ‘Oh wow, God, it’s hard.’ You get put into his head.”
Elsewhere, the brothers picked out videos from the likes of Dead Prez, with 2003’s ‘Hell Yeah’, directed by multi-award winner Gil Green, who also directed clips for Nelly, 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg. Josh Safdie said: “This is my favorite music video of all time.”
They also selected, strangely, a Russian boy band called Steklovata, and their video ‘Prosto Osen’ from 2006, of which Benny said: “It’s a whole different world. And it’s so personal. Watching it, you’re just like, ‘This is who these people are.’ That really is what connects with me. And it’s just beautiful music.”
And elsewhere they chose two Spike Jonze videos, one for Notorious B.I.G’s ‘Sky’s the Limit’ and secondly the much-lauded promo for Fatboy Slim’s ‘Praise You’ from 1998, with Josh Safdie saying: “I didn’t know what I was looking at and I didn’t know what was real. It felt like a public access thing that was being shown on MTV by accident.”
While Benny Safdie works on Lizard Music next year, he will also continue his acting sideline, following up his appearance in this year’s Adam Sandler Netflix hit Happy Gilmore 2 with a role in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming epic The Odyssey at the end of July.
