Both talents on their own, I'd like to focus today on the collaborations between the band Die Romantik and filmmaker Henry Joost. There are only 2, so it's appropriate, and they're both gorgeous, which is also appropriate.

[note: these video files can't be previewed obviously, so you'll need to have quicktime to watch them]

Die Romantik & Henry Joost - "Nachtmusik Für Linnea" (huge)
or (YouTube)

This is simply a soft and perfect treasure, a seamless visual dialogue. The man sings apparently to Linnea, the coy and smiling blond, about how he wants her, while she is clearly with another woman. However, upon reflection, it may not be that easy, he seems to be singing for someone else, he doesn't seem affected by her refusal. He's almost singing on our behalf, with his voice sounding like a male Astrud Gilberto, as if we, the newly introduced friend, have fallen immediately in love with Linnea, and he whimpers, half in warning half in lament, that we and he, and all the rest, want what will never be ours. But, that's content. Formally, it's edited like a tennis match. The tone, cadence, and colours are all brilliant. If you've seen F for Fake, you know that it starts like a jetplane, and goes non-stop for 40 minutes, and then lags bigtime for like 25 minutes during the Picasso part. This is what those 25 minutes should have been condensed to.

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Die Romantik & Henry Joost - "A Die Romantik Christmas"

Admittedly sillier, this video is still filled brimming with greatness. Looked at on the whole, it's three men sharing a Christmas meal with an elf. Looked at from inside, it's a swirling waltz and cackle about holiday cheer. The eerie haunt of the carol-cum-dirge sways the camera back and forth, towards and away, from the grins, the knives, the meat. The elf, whose house it is, seems possibly imaginary, so these men's psychosis brings them together, to laugh and drink and devour. It's Holiday Halloween. Or more accurately, a cute argument for Christmas as cult ritual.

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Henry (I like that his name sounds like "Juste") has informed me that he's working on a video for the title track from Die Romantik's new album, Narcissist's Waltz. The song begins where "Nachtmusik" ends, and throws open the beige shutters and greets the sun,
like this.

[Die Romantik's website] [Henry Joost's website]