Note for the curious: Mike Mills the director, not Mike Mills the bassist for R.E.M.
posted by tommasz at 11:29 AM on June 9 [14 favorites]

I've watched this like six times, it's so good. I'd love to read a shot-by-shot breakdown, the editing is too fast for me to track entirely.
posted by Nelson at 11:32 AM on June 9 [1 favorite]

I could have used a tw for the age of talking heads as a band.

Jokes aside, I’m wildly excited to watch this. Thanks!
posted by toodleydoodley at 11:37 AM on June 9 [4 favorites]

Definitely not obvious...
posted by Lemkin at 11:38 AM on June 9

Enjoyers of this may also like Mike Mills’ video album / album video for The National’s I Am Easy To Find
posted by supercres at 11:46 AM on June 9 [2 favorites]

50 years?

(This prompted me to look up how to pronounce Saoirse, would not have gotten to "seer-sha" on my own...so one minor thing accomplished today.)
posted by maxwelton at 12:02 PM on June 9 [3 favorites]

I saw this over the weekend and loved it Saoirse is great in it. My partner, a huge talking heads fan, said the video actually really put different emphasis on the song, it almost was like hearing it anew.
posted by Carillon at 12:21 PM on June 9 [5 favorites]

Watched this yesterday and unsurprisingly, she's fantastic and so good at the non-verbal communication needed for this video.
posted by drewbage1847 at 12:40 PM on June 9

Was prepared to be disappointed but was uplifted instead. Great! Thanks for sharing jocelmeow
posted by storybored at 12:41 PM on June 9

Aaaaah the pure music/lyric of this beginnings phase of TH abruptly changed my musical life 180 degrees. Every song from those two first albums was a bolt awake. Immediately I formed a New Wave band, singing Psycho Killer as best I could with my shallow wavering voice.

Iʻm very much hoping Ms Ronan will consider performing Life During Wartime as the same insightful character. We so need it. Please please please ....
posted by Droll Lord at 12:45 PM on June 9 [2 favorites]

I'm not usually That Guy who comes into a happy thread to drop a turd into the punch bowl, but I gotta say, I thought the video didn't come close to matching the energy and intelligence the Talking Heads brought to the scene in the 80s. It looked like a student film with a big wardrobe budget, in which the actor was asked to portray a dozen random mental conditions, in public and private moments. In public, the other characters somehow react to her not at all. (?!) A curiosity, but not my cup of punch.
posted by kozad at 12:53 PM on June 9 [2 favorites]

big wardrobe budget

*thinks about the Stop Making Sense suit*
Hee hee hee
posted by valrus at 1:27 PM on June 9 [9 favorites]

From Mastodon: "If anyone is interested, I took the new video for Psycho Killer by #TalkingHeads that came out this week and replaced the music with Paul McCartney’s Another Day. Works much better."

Vimeo link

(I am not posting this to dispute the quality of Mills' vision, but to share a fun juxtaposition)
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 1:43 PM on June 9 [4 favorites]

More art is always good, but there are already two really good videos out there.
posted by 99_ at 1:51 PM on June 9 [2 favorites]

I agree that "it’s not literal, creepy, bloody, physically violent or obvious," and what's great about it is that despite all those things it isn't, the video fits the song.
posted by umbú at 1:57 PM on June 9 [1 favorite]

I liked it. Am a huge, huge fan of the band. The character in the video reminds me (she even looks pretty similar) of an ex of mine who was a fundamentally decent person, but every day upon waking up rolled d100 on a table of random moods: just constitutionally unable to feign being normal unless she rolled a 50 for that day.

About 10 years ago, I had two new students from Britain, Saoirse and Aoife. I just looked at them and asked in my most syrupy Southern voice how on earth I was supposed to pronounce their names. Saoirse to Sirsha, I could nod and smile, but Aoife to Eva, I was just like "Are you funnin' me?"
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 2:13 PM on June 9 [1 favorite]

Please remember to floss people. Brushing is only the beginning of good oral hygiene.
posted by OHenryPacey at 2:23 PM on June 9 [1 favorite]

I'm just imagining the filming of this, which was clearly done location by location. Saoirse Ronan brushing their teeth twelve times in a row and trying to convey something different each time.
posted by phooky at 2:24 PM on June 9 [2 favorites]

In public, the other characters somehow react to her not at all. (?!)

i can't believe the director missed that obvious error, they should be fired imho
posted by Sebmojo at 3:08 PM on June 9 [1 favorite]

Iʻm very much hoping Ms Ronan will consider performing Life During Wartime as the same insightful character.

Also "Once in a Lifetime." In fact, I thought this concept could have worked better for "Once in a Lifetime." I feel like "Psycho Killer" should be darker, or at least have more of a journey towards darkness. Agree that it shouldn't be "literal, creepy, bloody, physically violent or obvious." But this video covers such a wide range of good days and bad that while it's really cool, I see her as profoundly normal. And while even the profoundly normal have their "tense and nervous and I can't relax" days, just dabbling in darkness isn't (to me) what the song is about.
posted by PlusDistance at 3:34 PM on June 9

the video fits the song.

replaced the music with Paul McCartney’s Another Day


Both songs. Amazing,
posted by Droll Lord at 3:52 PM on June 9 [1 favorite]

Please remember to floss people

Tried this, but the guy didnʻt cooperate. Plus I quickly ran out of floss.
posted by Droll Lord at 3:56 PM on June 9 [6 favorites]

Great photography, great editing, and a solid story. My favorite song from the only album those poor art students ever did. So sad that they died in that horrific bus crash before they could record anything else. What a great album, such promise.
posted by evilDoug at 4:18 PM on June 9

Awesome.
posted by signal at 5:40 PM on June 9

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