The Sensual Videos

[gordon!henrik@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Larry DeLuca @ The Sensual World)]

Wow!  I just got my copy last night!  "Love and Anger" was pretty dippy -
almost enough so to make me believe Chris'N'Vickie in their analysis.
I, however, am tempted to believe it was designed specifically to appeal
to the American market, without the parody overtones.  My favourite 
section of it was when she looked at her feet and spun around sprinkling
glitter right before the rock-out, and the close-ups of the ballet 
dancers' feet in the puddle and gold glitter, and the dervishes, which
were totally cool.

"The Sensual World" was *HOT*.  Mmmmmmmh, YES!!!!!!!!  God, how I wanted
her!  Especially during the instrumental break when she was stepping
through the night turning toward the camera and away - Mmmmmhhh, yes!
Definitely her most erotic video yet.

"This Woman's Work" was *amazing*.  Very nicely done.  I just wish she
hadn't bothered to frame it with the piano bit.  I mean, I think we could
all get the fact that she was singing from his point of view without it,
and while it was an interesting way to start out the video, and I liked
the end bit, I felt like it diminished the raw emotional power of it all
(I thought she should have faded out much earlier on Mr. "I can't remember
my line" - he looked so *odd* just jawing after the nurse came to talk
to him).  Actually, I really didn't like his acting - especially close-up.
Though, with his campy, overdone style he would have made the *PERFECT*
Heathcliff to play opposite her 1978 Cathy in "Wuthering Heights" (can
you just imagine the two of them, making utterly grotesque gestures
and horrific facial expressions, clawing through the fog at each other
in a surreal hide-and-seek with cartwheels?).

All-in-All, I still think "Hounds of Love" is her best video, or "Running
Up That Hill".  But, MMMMMMH, yes!  "The Sensual World" will titillate me
for years to come.

I was surprised (and dismayed) to note the lack of clear, bright close-ups.
I think she's getting a bit sensitive about her age (good gods, they're
retouching her photos enough).  She's still fabulously beautiful - extra
laugh lines or no, every camera angle seemed designed to hide something -

She never *really* faces the camera in a clearly-lit closeup during
"Love and Anger" (at least not without her head tilted up), she's almost
always in profile on "This Woman's Work", and "The Sensual World" has her
in the chin strap most of the time we see her anywhere near us, and those
out-of-focus close-ups at the end are *sooooooooo* annoying (like, who
do you think you are - Kindlight or something!?!!?!?).

But she's still fabulous.  I think, though, perhaps my favourite clip of
all is the one from the VH-1 interview where she just walks through the
fall trees while "Never Be Mine" plays.  They could extend that concept
into a complete video and it would surpass all the others on the cassette.

Mmmmmmmmmh, yes!!!!!

					larry...