Despite my best efforts, I didn’t get a chance to see the one movie that has the potential to prove my prediction for movie of the year wrong, The Science of Sleep. It seems like a perfect movie for Gondry, to create a character that matches his own imagination in order to fill the movie with insane, goofy, dream-like imagery. I can’t wait to see it. But I’m going to have to.
If you aren’t as excited as I am, watch the trailer. If that doesn’t convince you, well, we have different tastes. I will respect your difference of opinion but you must know we can never be friends. Sorry. Like any good trailer, it features an assortment of songs which touch upon the movie’s focus while catching your attention. In this case, that’s sleep and dreams (wait, wasn’t that Eternal Sunshine too?): Velvet Underground‘s “After Hours,” The Strokes‘ “Fear of Sleep,” and Death Cab‘s “Your Heart is an Empty Room.” While the latter two are recent pop tracks that I don’t have much of an opinion on one way or the other, I had long ago forgotten the VU track. I don’t think I’ve ever actually admitted it to Freed, but I’ve never been a huge Velvet Underground fan. They have tracks here and there that I like, but usually when he talks about them, I just nod politely and think about other things; like discarded Chia-Pets, what bark is made out of, and why there is no Twinkie eating competition when there is one for hot dogs.
But “After Hours” is very much outside the norm for Velvet Underground. Sung by drummer, Maureen Tucker, the song seems plain and honest almost like a Gene Austin song. Her rough accent shines through every lyric (I would have said Queens, but I guess she’s from Levittown). But the sweetness of her voice is confused by the lyrics. Much like The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black,” her call to shut out daylight seems odd, even if it is only to prolong the joys of the nightlife. The soundtrack features a bossa-nova’ed version of the song with different lyrics, which is missing much of the charm, but still seems a nice ode to the original.
: Velvet Underground – After Hours :
: Gael Garcia Bernal & Sacha Bourdo – If You Rescue Me :
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.