kagablog

directed by Aryan Kaganof

Between 2005 and 2006 Aryan Kaganof unofficially produced four video-clips with the famous French group NOUVELLE VAGUE. Their most recent concert in Paris to date was on the 25-04-07 at the Grand Rex, one of the capital’s largest concert venues. During these two years the group successfully brought out four cover versions of English or American tracks.

In order to show you the telepathy between Kaganof and ourselves, we’re going to quote our comments from KagaBlog from 14-08-06, where we referred to the song “Bela Lugosi is Dead” by Bauhaus, concluding that the latter is not dead. At the same time, without knowing, Kaganof was filming the video-clip “Helgé Janssen. Undead” with a remake of the same song by Nouvelle Vague this time. Helgé Janssen is a South African dancer and writer who has already published a novel with the publishing house directed by Kaganof. He dances half-naked in the video of Bauhaus’ song covered by Nouvelle Vague. With great talent for four minutes he emphasises the metaphorical aspect of the song, reminding us that Lugosi was a defender of counter-culture in his time, and Kaganof wants to emphasise the fact that this counter-culture is not dead today, but revived by extraordinary people such as Helgé Janssen and Kaganof himself!

“Too Drunk to Fuck” is the Nouvelle Vague’s cover of an old track by the Dead Kennedys. Kaganof puts the song’s context into a new problematic. Through the real images of an adolescent Catherine Henegan playing with her friends, he is trying to underline the naïve side of the lyrics with a touch of discreet humour. The Super8 images of family scenes are full of charm and grace, a grace lost with time, but seen again from an angle that is sexist and nostalgic-lyrical: that of the lines of the song and that of the producer, who manages to blend the contradictory elements.

“Fade to glass” is the remake of Visage’s old song “Fade to Grey”. Kaganof presents two dancers on two screens, interpreting a choreography directed by Ysabelle Evers. The producer’s editing is full of rhythmic interactions between intersecting and superimposed images. With the technical term of the title, the producer highlights a home-made technique where the special effects are used only for their poetic value, not for their effect of illusion, as is done in commercial cinema.

“Venus Emerging” is the title of the fourth video, but not the fourth song. It’s a remake of the Special’s “Friday Night” in which we see, above all, the impressive sub-marine images shot by eran tahor of a beautiful young diver in slow motion. She is diving gracefully and the camera observes the carnal aspect of her beautiful athletic body.

These four video clips produced by Aryan Kaganof are fairly simple as concepts and productions, but very liturgical and effective as artistic events – they are liturgical for it is a special mass that they are celebrating, that of youth, charm, music and love. They are effective because these films highlight the essential values of cinema – the rhythm and vibration of life, colour, dance, art, youth and love.

Dionysos ANDRONIS
translated from the french by lucy lyall grant