A very inspired idea by the filmmakers, this clip by U2 from their single "U2: Song for Someone" is a fascinating cinematic experience where the major spectacle doesn't come
necessarily from their song but rather from the main actor of the piece, the great Woody Harrelson ("Zombieland", "The People Vs. Larry Flynt"), a strong and almost silent
performance where he plays a criminal who is about to get released from prison, so this is his last day, a very quiet one filled with a small routine inside the cell until a
guard comes to pick him up.
A great portion of the video does not include the music so we hear the sounds of the environment around him, and we are fully concentrated on his inner moments and in a certain way to few actors and few projects can allows us we keep imagining a background for his character, what kind of crimes he may have committed, how he spent his days behind bars, if he's really dangerous (as Woody usually play crazed types, how can we forget Mickey Knox in the great "Natural Born Killers" and the epic riot he caused in jail during a TV interview). You almost want this video to actually have a bigger story because the makers of it made such a movie-feel experience that leaves us curious (if you stay until the credits, you'll notice that Woody isn't simply playing a prisoner - his name is Aaron Brown, so we wonder if such character will return to something else. And again, kudos to Woody for bringing another worthy performance, very calculated and with a mininum of dialogue - only at the final minutes after the song is over.
As for the song, it isn't one of the most memorable from U2, but it has some thoughtful and poetic lyrics, one of their best in recent years. There's some sort of connection between the music and the video although it relates to a conversation with a special person when the images presents only one man but if you stay until the one you'll form a whole idea about the lyrics since Aaron is about to meet a special one in his life - not gonna spoil. It's a very cool project. 8/10.
A great portion of the video does not include the music so we hear the sounds of the environment around him, and we are fully concentrated on his inner moments and in a certain way to few actors and few projects can allows us we keep imagining a background for his character, what kind of crimes he may have committed, how he spent his days behind bars, if he's really dangerous (as Woody usually play crazed types, how can we forget Mickey Knox in the great "Natural Born Killers" and the epic riot he caused in jail during a TV interview). You almost want this video to actually have a bigger story because the makers of it made such a movie-feel experience that leaves us curious (if you stay until the credits, you'll notice that Woody isn't simply playing a prisoner - his name is Aaron Brown, so we wonder if such character will return to something else. And again, kudos to Woody for bringing another worthy performance, very calculated and with a mininum of dialogue - only at the final minutes after the song is over.
As for the song, it isn't one of the most memorable from U2, but it has some thoughtful and poetic lyrics, one of their best in recent years. There's some sort of connection between the music and the video although it relates to a conversation with a special person when the images presents only one man but if you stay until the one you'll form a whole idea about the lyrics since Aaron is about to meet a special one in his life - not gonna spoil. It's a very cool project. 8/10.
