A lot has been said about the work of Chris Cunningham: "pitch black and comically twisted" might best refer to his work with Aphex Twin, with his having realized videos for both "Come to Daddy" and "Windowlicker"; whilst the words "beautiful, somber, and brilliant" might apply rather aptly to his adaption of Bjork's "All is Full of Love" (the very work, incidentally, that convinced me it was time to become a filmmaker--and in fact, the runnning joke, these days, is that, though I'm quite certain I will be directing my own first script, here, the one caveat has always been, "Well, unless you've got Chris Cunningham holding on Line 1...").
Cunningham ("So cunning he could be the King of Cunningham...!!"--if you'll pardon the reference, dear Readers, I simply couldn't resist) and his work straddle a large artistic divide--on the one side, we find the hilarious and outlandish prankster, on the other, the restrained idealist (though something tells me, if he were in the room with me right now, he'd laugh his ass off at the second one, claiming all the while he was simply doing it for the money... Still, I suspect there's more of the poet in there then many give him credit for...). He's made a handful of music videos over the course of the past decade or so--with the aforementioned three not only winning him his much-deserved recognition as a technical genius, but a fair bit of controversy as well, what with the banning of "Come to Daddy". Following his "entrance", as it were, onto the scene, Hollywood very rapidly sat up and took notice; however, despite the fact that, from what I understand, the Suits have been begging this guy, for years now, to direct a feature, he has, instead, opted to lay low, understandably biding his time until the right project comes along. For a while, it was rumored that he was attached to the long-awaited (and, for years now, decidedly ill-fated) screen adaption of William Gibson's "Neuromancer" (from Gibson himself (paraphrased): "I think the book is unadaptable, personally; but if anyone has a chance in hell at doing it, it's Chris..."); but whether or not that project is still pushing forward (highly doubtful) or has long since been abandoned (most likely) remains to be seen.
Recently, Cunningham's most recent work, "Rubber Johnny", has been making the rounds on the net. "Rubber Johnny" is yet another collaboraiton with Richard D. James of Aphex Twin--this time, a short film, the second half of which (for lack of a better description) constitutes a music video. Reckless in its vision, painstaking in its execution (one frame at a time, for six years...), "Rubber Johnny", for me, is a brilliant short work from a director of whom (and I say this about very, very few artists these days) the only criticism I can offer is that I wish he would, indeed, opt to be just a bit more prolific at times... (And hey, Chris, if you're looking for that debut feature script--you know, the one that's been eluding you all this time--no worries mate, for have I got The One for you...)
>> To view Aphex Twin's RUBBER JOHNNY click here
(Note: "Rubber Johnny" is a graphic and intense work. Your viewing discretion is advised.)
(Above: a screen capture from the video.)
