I can not recall ever covering a video project in my Monday Modern Art Chat series, which is kind of strange somehow since I consider video one of the most interesting art genres. On behalf of myself and all the other video fans among us I’ll change this – well, at least for today.
It is often said that life passes by quickly, and that you don’t have the faintest idea of how fast this happens until it’s about to end. With this concept in mind writer and director Chris Milk created a video for the 42 second Beijing film festival. The assignment was clear: create a video 42 seconds in length.
Mr. Milk got the idea of recreating the experience some claim to have right before they pass away: seeing your whole life in a flash. Now, put all the negative thoughts about death away and watch the result of Milk’s project – it’s breath taking.
Milk and his team managed to show an entire life within 42 seconds, and this is extremely bright. I don’t know if anyone of you has seen The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, some of you probably have. It’s a nice movie, but personally I thought that three hours was somewhat ‘oversized‘. The motion picture tells covers the entire life of a man but it needs three hours to do that. Last Day Dream does the same, but within a minute. Okay, I reckon that Benjamin Button’s life was quite extraordinary, but still.
When I saw Last Day Dream for the first time everything seemed perfect about it. In the first place the way a huge story is compressed into a short time span. In the second place the cinematography, if you haven’t noticed, is straight awesome. The focus has been done brilliantly, it’s not only aesthetically correct but it also contributes to the idea we’re actually watching a man’s last day dream.
Having said that, Last Day Dream remains a shockingly beautiful piece of short video work. The message is clear: life is short, live yours now.
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