Friday Night Video
Tonight's video is a 3 for 1 bargain featuring one of my favorite musicians, one of my favorite actors, and one of my favorite directors.
Michael Penn's career seemingly "peaked" in 1989 with his debut album March, off of which the song "No Myth" became his first and only top 40 hit. While that first album is certainly a good one that has mostly retained its charm over the last twenty years, Penn has consistently churned out good work ever since, not the least of which is the criminally underappreciated album Resigned...which I played on an endless loop back in 1997. The best song on the album is "Try," a song whose video was directed by...P.T. Anderson (Magnolia, Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood).
Anderson's unique stamp is all over the video for "Try," most notably in that it's one long, uncut, tracking shot---and a complicated one at that! The video was filmed in downtown Los Angeles in what, according to Wikipedia anyway, is the longest hallway in North America at just over a quarter of a mile long. The video also gets bonus points for making a reference to one of my favorite movies...They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Even if you don't like the song, you have to admire the artistry in pulling off such a complicated shoot.
And if you don't much care for the song or the video, then how's about you try and locate cameo appearances by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Thomas Jane and Melora Walters.
And if NONE of these things interest you, you and I likely don't know each other...and never will. So be it.
Michael Penn - Try (Official Music Video) - The most popular videos are here
Michael Penn's career seemingly "peaked" in 1989 with his debut album March, off of which the song "No Myth" became his first and only top 40 hit. While that first album is certainly a good one that has mostly retained its charm over the last twenty years, Penn has consistently churned out good work ever since, not the least of which is the criminally underappreciated album Resigned...which I played on an endless loop back in 1997. The best song on the album is "Try," a song whose video was directed by...P.T. Anderson (Magnolia, Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood).
Anderson's unique stamp is all over the video for "Try," most notably in that it's one long, uncut, tracking shot---and a complicated one at that! The video was filmed in downtown Los Angeles in what, according to Wikipedia anyway, is the longest hallway in North America at just over a quarter of a mile long. The video also gets bonus points for making a reference to one of my favorite movies...They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Even if you don't like the song, you have to admire the artistry in pulling off such a complicated shoot.
And if you don't much care for the song or the video, then how's about you try and locate cameo appearances by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Thomas Jane and Melora Walters.
And if NONE of these things interest you, you and I likely don't know each other...and never will. So be it.
Michael Penn - Try (Official Music Video) - The most popular videos are here
posted by Kraig Smith at
6:02 PM
4 Comments:
Cool song. And that video is way better than Magnolia.
Couldn't resist taking a Magnolia dig, could'ya? You should do a follow-up to your What Not To Read blog with a What Not To See...10 overrated movies. I might very well go ahead and do the same.
You should totally do that list. Maybe we should do it at the same time.
Sounds gimmicky. I love it! Let's do it. Luckily for me you already have an impressive number of reviews on Pajiba, so perhaps I can even handpick one or two I strongly disagree with. I'll get to thinking on my list...
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home