U2 & Anton Corbijn : Linear :: No Line On The Horizon ::: Film Notes
‘Linear’ is the film directed by long-time U2 photographer/videographer Anton Corbijn and co-written with Bono that accompanies the deluxe versions of ‘No Line On The Horizon.’ To view ‘Linear’ you can either download the film from the No Line On The Horizon website or watch the DVD that arrives with the box set and magazine edition of the album. U2 has always been a forward thinking and visually inclined band and the bundling of a video gives fans something to help interpret the album. The record industry should continue to add extras such as these to more releases as an incentive to purchase the music rather than download illegally. There are spoilers a plenty below both with the film and soundtrack choices, so if you want to view ‘Linear’ fresh, don’t read any further.
As ‘Linear’ opens, “Unknown Caller” plays as black and white shots of Paris zip by. The camera follows a man on a motorcycle that is later revealed to be a police officer (Said Taghmaoui, Three Kings, Lost). The officer stops his motorcycle after staring at some graffiti that reads “Nik La Bac” on a nearby wall and then proceeds to dump gasoline on his bike and set it on fire from a lit cigarette as “Breathe” resonates in the background.
In the next scene, the police officer finds another motorcycle and ‘Linear’ switches to color as the lengthy and symphonic b-side “Winter” assists with the prelude before daylight. “Winter” sounds suspiciously like “Vida La Vida” by Coldplay with its orchestration and I’m beginning to think there’s some giant plot to hammer this chord progression into my soul.
As “Winter” plays, you watch the officer drive his motorcycle into Spain from 3rd person perspective, which gets kind of dull. The song is cool, but the camera work is a little monotonous. The film cuts to “White As Snow” as the police officer stops for a break and stares at the shifting clouds in the sky. One cloud symbolically forms the country of Africa as the police officer cools off from his long ride and makes Christ-like poses on his motorcycle. The cloud then dissipates into a “1” formation and dissolves. Pretentious? I think not.
As the officer returns to his journey, the title track blares as he traverses across the Spanish countryside. “Fez-Being Born” introduces the scene when the viewer is introduced to a waitress in a dirty roadside diner. I don’t understand the significance of watching the officer eat a salad while the waitress chews on her nails, but I’m sure there’s some elusive meaning behind it all. Now I’m hungry. After the feast scene, a staticky and trippy video for “Magnificent” featuring U2 plays on the overhead TV and makes for a pretty cool transition.
Back on the road and “Stand Up Comedy” leads the way for some cool fish-eyed lens cinematography of Spain. The woman empowering “Get On Your Boots” is played at a strip club/brothel as a cowboy boot clad brunette grinds her hips against a mirror and a cadre of heavily mustachioed ladies dance provocatively in a peep show.
That previous scene signaled my What The Hell? moment and left me seriously confused. As the film segues back to black and white, “Moment of Surrender” provides the audio accompaniment as the officer prepares to depart. Cut to the last scene, which shows the officer on the beach staring at the line on the horizon as “Cedars of Lebanon” strikes a reflective tone. Forever restless, the officer acquires a rowboat and sails off to sea as the film ends.
As a long form video, ‘Linear’ suits the album well. The storyline often meanders with long shots of the European countryside but the cinematography is cool. Highlights of ‘Linear’ include “Winter” and the video for “Magnificent.”
-
-
http://hyperakt.com/blog
-
-
Anyone else having problems downloading the film?
I bought the DigiPak and it said it would take 1 1/2 hours, in Quick Time of course, but when I came back the “path could not be found”. Could that be because of the computer monitor going into standby?
We have a 1.5M DSL and nine month old HP PC with and AMD.
[Reply]
-
-
http://holbrookfields.blogspot.com/
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Pingback: Joshua Tree :Hyperstore International
Aaron Reply:
March 3rd, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Thanks for your response and review!
What I was trying to find out was whether the downloadable version of the movie, which comes with the Digi Pak and Magazine editions of the new U2 album, would be compatible and transferable (through iTunes) to my iPod; not whether I could purchase it from iTunes. Does anyone know?
Thanks again!
[Reply]