Seit kurzem gibt es auch zu „The Hills“ ein Video: Regie geführt hat Vincent Haycock, die Hauptrolle spielt Isaach de Bankolé, und es ist wieder sehenswert, wie schon die vorangegangenen Clips (ein weiterer soll noch folgen).
Der Begleittext:
„For our second-to-last video in this series we knew we wanted something simple but striking, once again allowing the power of Leonard Cohen’s lyrics to take centre stage,” says NOWNESS creative director Bunny Kinney. “We love Vincent’s artistic response to The Hills, featuring this world-weary protagonist on the streets of Texas, reminiscing his past as he too tries on that iconic fedora and, for a moment, embodies the man behind the music. (…)
“Leonard is such an amazing poet and you can’t listen to his music without having images pop into your head,” says Haycock, who also cites filmmakers Robert Bresson, Andrei Tarkovsky and Jim Jarmusch as the inspiration behind the texture and rhythm of the project. “I kept seeing a man sitting in a chair waiting for the world to end but it wasn’t sad. Rather, there was a relief or even a desire for it to end.”
Charged with enigmatic visual metaphors and complemented by Isaach De Bankolé’s stoic yet personable performance, The Hills is a fitting cinematic tribute to the only song on the album scored by Cohen. As his film counterpart ambles back to the edge of town and a heavenly chorus picks up, the curtain of reality burns away only to reveal a new one.
“My initial thoughts of the song was that Leonard was singing about dying but then I realized he had written this poem well before his death,” says the director. “The chair symbolizes a final resting place, but there is also an idea of accepting what is coming and enjoying it.“ (…) When Bankolé confidently strolls into the waiting darkness the audience is reminded of Cohen’s creative resolve and the undimmed passions he retained till the end.”
--
To Hell with Poverty