Italian photographer and director Floria Sigismondi stays true to her style and creates a dark and futuristic video treatment for Katy Perry's smash hit «E.T.» feat. Kanye West.
I anticipated the video release of «E.T.» a lot. And the fact that Floria Sigismondi directed it, made it even more exciting; she might as well be one of the most talented music video directors out there. Her Sigur Ròs video "Untitled" is a masterpiece. Her Christina Aguliera video "Hurt" is epic. And she's one of the few music video directors who were able to establish and maintain a unique style, regardless what kind of music they were treating.
"E.T." might not be Sigismondi's best work but it has definitely some great moments in it. It's high concept, flawlessly executed and it matches the song's acoustic atmosphere quite well. The video opens with a great cinematic intro, and there are some some amazing shots in it - especially when Katy Perry softly touches the surface of a faraway planet to unveil a mysterious stranger, who appears to be her lover.
But on the other hand the video suffers from some annoying faux-pas. The stock footage thing... C'mon. I mean, how many times have we seen the same cheetah wasting the same poor gazelle over and over again? Or the humping monkeys?
Furthermore, the editing is a bit too cautious for my taste. But that's Sigismondi's style; she tends to stay in one set for a relatively long period of time, then change it to reveal something new and push the story forward. That's fine with me.
But again I have to ask myself: Why does a well-established director and artist like Sigismondi use the same out-worn symbols and subjective iconography we've seen over and over again in the last two years? It's all so god damn "Gaga-esque" these days. But I guess it would be naive to wonder why.
Still, the video remains quite awesome and is probably one of the best so far this year.
Rating: 4/5
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