Post 184: Best videos of all time, #10

It’s a Beatles song that is better than the original. That’s something I can only say about Joe Cocker and Otis Redding in historical value. Fiona Apple nails this song.

The video, directed by the once Wunderkind Paul Thomas Anderson (well, he did Boogie Nights, that’s gotta count for something)

Let me note two things. This is a perfect example of when to cover a song for a movie. It’s not treading on old waters, like the new “in the air” remix on the Miami Vice (2006) promos, and it’s a better version of the song that that would have felt out of place on one of her albums.

There are two straight on camera to mirrors shots. The camera is going to reflect in a mirror if one shoots a sliver of film in front of a camera. PTA found a way to digitalize this out, and it’s one of the first instances in cinema where someone does it. It’s a wonderful technique that no one will ever get the same mileage out of.

And the video, even if the song is a cover, is endlessly rewatchable, it’s probably the main reason I didn’t sell the Pleasantville DVD which it was on during my poor years after college.



That little bit where she's completely upside-down and almost cracks a smile, makes me love her all the more. Ahh, 1998 and 1999, I miss you somedays.