Welcome to Your Daily Short, a new feature on Film.com that will highlight and stream a short film at high noon. Every weekday. Every week.
TODAY’S SHORT: “Triumph of a Heart” (Spike Jonze) 2004
RUNNING TIME: 5:26
WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH IT: Okay, yes, you got me – this is a music video. Sure, it’s one of the most amazing music videos ever made, pairing two titanically talented artists at the height of their talents, but it’s a music video. Be that as it may, one of my hopes with this feature is express just how boundless the world of short-form filmmaking is (so long as it’s allowed to be), and ghettoizing the music video as a viable artistic form needlessly forces us to overlook incidents of great cinema.
As any Björk fan would be happy to tell you, the music videos she’s commissioned over the course of her career – from Michel Gondry’s video for “Bachelorette” to Chris Cunningham’s visualization of “All is Full of Love” – are consistently superior works of film art, as innovative and involving as any of the feature films that came out in their respective years. The Icelandic swan-stress has teamed up with Spike Jonze a number of different times (most famously for “It’s Oh So Quiet”), but their adorably demented video for “Triumph of a Heart” is probably my personal favorite, and also one of the few Björk videos that can claim to have a rather linear narrative.
Björk plays a woman whose marriage is in a little bit of a rut. Desperate to reassess her relationship, she runs away and joins her friends for a wild bender while her husband waits for her to come back to him. Also, her husband is a cat. And also maybe a shapeshifter. And definitely a sweet dancer.
Watch Yesterday’s Daily Short: “14e Arrondissement”
Do you have a favorite short film that you would like us to feature as Your Daily Short? Whether it’s something you love, something you made, or both, send it along to Filmdotcomshorts@Gmail.com and you might see it on the site!
Categories: ColumnsTags: Bjork, Music Video, Short Film, Spike jonze, Triumph of a Heart