Anima

What do you get when you combine the music of Radiohead's Thom Yorke and the imagery of Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread, Magnolia) with choreography by Damien Jalet (Suspiria)? You get one hell of a visual treat that blows your senses away.

Set in a dystopian world where a tired and disheveled Thom Yorke is joined in a choreograph of movements by other fellow passengers on a train. There he catches the eye of a fellow passenger and thus begins his long lost journey to get to her.

Three songs from Yorke's new album, ANIMA, are combined to create this spellbinding fifteen minutes, with the camera angles capturing the inventive and unique choreography perfectly. The set design and art direction are effective thanks to the cinematography, And Yorke does give a fine performance, with his twitching eye stealing the show!

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Boogie Nights, Punch-Drunk Love, The Master) and with music written and performed by Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Anima is hard to describe. Calling it simply a music video is an understatement. It is more than a visual promotion for a song, with the visual aspects have as much, if not more, of a meaning than the music. Besides it's 15 minutes long!

The finished product is interesting and reasonably entertaining. Not brilliant or compelling, but not a bad way to spend 15 minutes.

An imaginative and thought provoking piece of contemporary interpretive dance set to the music of Thom Yorke - our should that be the other way around? The point is, the music and dance really one single piece of beautifully crafted art, making you think about life's struggles and how different they might be if you find the right person to share them with.

Although its exploration of the dystopian societies is nothing new, ANIMA is a fairly entertaining, and occasionally disturbing, hypnotic treat for the senses.

(8/10)

This is the work of artists who wish to express something elemental in human nature.

I can't say for sure I know what they had in mind exactly, or what another person might experience from their viewing; what I can say is that it is masterly work and for me it's about connection.

The last time I saw something this affecting was Michael Dudok De Wit's The Red Turtle; Anima is every bit as life affirming (even though it may evoke tears).

There's little point in elaborating on plot points and such because that's not what work like this is about; it's something to be experienced at a near subconscious level.

I will very likely watch this for a long time to come: many times over.

Mr Yorke, Mr Anderson; Thank You.