Song: Losing My Religion
Artist: R.E.M.
Director: Tarsem Singh
Year: 1991

This video is one of my all time favorites. I remember it so vividly, even though I haven’t seen it in a long time. The video is filmed beautifully, it reminds me of a Rembrandt painting with the deep shadows and golden highlights. Which makes me think of what happens when you take classical art and apply it to modern mediums. Almost every frame of the video looks like a renaissance painting, and the imagery in the video just reinforces that. My favorite shots are the shots of the empty room with the lead singer “dancing” around. I think the colors and the framing are great in those shots. But it’s hard to find shots I don’t like.

The video goes well with the song and it’s religious theme and vague lyrics. The imagery makes you think, but I wonder if some of it is just aesthetic. (Milk jug falling? I don’t get it, but it looks nice). There is so much symbolism you have to shake it off with a stick… The religious imagery: Michael Stipe in Christ like poses, the eastern women invoking images of hinduism, the various angels, and the old man with the broken wings (I originally thought that was a reference to Icarus, but wikipedia says it’s actually based on a Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, so more points to them). There’s even some social commentary; the quick shots of the factory workers seems very iconic of communism (still a valid concern in 1991). And so on…

You could probably write pages and pages on the symbolism and meaning of the imagery in the video. But lets not think too much into it and just enjoy it for how beautiful it is.

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