Yesterday the official trailer for “Tron Legacy” dropped, fufilling every Tron fan’s dream of the return of Flynn, amazing future-retro CGI and yes, Light Cycles:
That said, another faction of nerds was simultaneously orgasming over the appearance of Daft Punk’s rumored 24-track soundtrack to the film, debuting a slow-motion 8-bit influenced song that recalls the most menacing moments of “Human After All” with new grit and swagger. The trailer immediately had us running to our copies of “Homework,” and it felt very appropriate to do a video retrospective for our favorite French house duo…
The classic of Daft Punk videos, “Around The World” might be everything we love about Michel Gondry all at once. (embedding disabled on all videos — click the screenshot to go to the source!)
From the perfectly executed visual story, to the kooky details and the devotion to live-action special effects, it’s Gondry’s signatures in a compact, silly and wonderful package. For the most digital-centric pop group on the planet, it’s funny that their video calling card is so deeply analog.
The inexplicable video for “Da Funk” is an early Spike Jonze highlight — seriously, did Daft Punk have a vision of the greatest filmmakers of the next decade? — and in contrast to “Around The World,” features a linear (if bizarre) plot:
Following the tracks of the new New Yorker Charles, who happens to be a 6″ tall dog with a ghetto blaster, it isn’t brilliant as much as so entirely from left field that we can’t help but be impressed that Jonze made the story of a dog-man wandering the streets this watchable. And then set it to house music.
Finally, the deeply disturbing and borderline nihilstic video for “Technologic,” featuring what appears to be a skinned version of the Chucky doll:
Although “Human After All” was generally panned for underwhelming ideas and dry, flat production, this video (and song) have become staples in the Daft Punk canon.
Finally, the (literal) mothership of all Daft Punk videos — Interstella 5555:
A collaboration between Daft Punk and filmmaker Leiji Matsumoto, the film is an animated version of “Discovery” that features an episode for each song on the album. Imagine Heavy Metal mixed with Spirited Away, and you are surprisingly close to the end product. The plot involves the abduction of the band seen above, who get their memory wiped by invaders and reprogrammed as “the Crescendolls,” but are saved by a space traveler who has a mysterious vision/wet dream about the lady bassist. There’s also an evil Earl in a mansion, a way to universal conquest via 5,555 gold records, and an epic spirit battle between the aforementioned Earl and the space traveler. No lie.