The band are French, the director is American (now based in Paris) – and the video is Korean. That is, Patrick Daughters has taken Phoenix’s Entertainment – the first single from long-awaited new album Bankrupt – and fashioned a faithful approximation of a South Korean soap opera to go with it…
It’s a leftfield idea that is initially almost bamboozling, because the video is true to the traditions of the genre. Patrick, back to directing after a year-plus sabbatical, plays it straight with a combination of intrigue, romance, evildoing and derring-do. You just have to disentangle a number of simultaneous storylines, set in different timeframes and places (both South and North Korea) involving the same actors playing similar roles in the different narratives.
Almost surprising too to see Patrick Daughters returning with something so averse to the cinematic production values for which he’s renowned. But its so faithful to the subject you’d be forgiven for thinking its the real McCoy, until a few characters start lipsyncing…
Phoenix
Entertainment
Director: Patrick Daughters
Prod co: The Directors Bureau
Exec producer: Sue Yeon Ahn
Producer: Emily Skinner, Benjamin Gilovitz
1st AD: Jesse Fleece
2nd AD: Chad Nicholson
Production Supervisor: Jessica Clark
DoP: Larkin Seiple
1st AC: Matt Sanderson
2nd AC/DIT: Jonathan Dec
Steadicam: Ari Robbins
Production designer: Heidi Adams
Makeup: Victoria Aronson
Hair: Taylor Stevenson
Wardrobe: Keith Wage, Zoey Macdonell
Cast: Christine Ko, Jason Her, Tim Park, Adam Jung, Davis Choh, Ben Cho. Mihui Hall, Sejin Park, Mia Danelle
Editor: Stephen Berger
Colorist: James Tillett
Post Producer: Alannah Currie
VFX Artist: Cynthia Lee
UK rep: Riff Raff Films