The Kindest Cut of All Is No Cut at All

Everybody likes to complain about “MTV-style editing” taking over the movies, by which they mean to say that the filmmakers mean to dazzle you into jellied submission with as frantic a cutting style as possible. (For reference, see--or don’t--”Natural Born Killers,” the ultimate refractory-mind-set movie.)

But all of a sudden, it seems, “MTV cutting” means no cuts at all. As in, zilch.

Has Jim Jarmusch replaced Oliver Stone as the channel’s spiritual godfather? Probably not, but there’s a mini-trend here.

The most famous recent example of a genuinely edit-free clip was “Stay,” whose concentration on a single take of Lisa Loeb alone was crucial in propelling her winsomeness to the top of the pops.

Now we may be in for a season when every director wants to forgo the cutting room altogether. Just out on MTV are two new stabs at the same: Lucas’ hip-hop breakthrough “Lucas With the Lid Off” and the Gin Blossoms’ also-ran “Allison Road.”

We’ll forgo the temptation to make this edition of Sound & Vision--in which music videos are reviewed and rated from 0 to 100--one single, uninterrupted, run-on sentence as homage. Lucky you.

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Lucas, “Lucas With the Lid Off.” In an impressively fast-moving, uninterrupted Steadicam shot, director Michel Gondry follows the Copenhagen-born oddball Lucas in and out of 15 adjacent sets, some situated at brain-puzzling right angles. Small-scale models, rear-projection footage and live rappers seen on monitors add to the mad jumble.

The music incorporates a playful ragtime flavor as well as reggae, so it’s no surprise that part of what pops out of Lucas’ brain in these interconnected scenes is Jazz Age-era silent comedy scenarios.

Gondry’s single-shot gimmick wouldn’t count for much if Lucas’ tune--an innocent celebration of mind expansion--weren’t such grand, goofy fun on its own merits. This is a MTV “Buzz Bin” entry that really does leave you with a good buzz every time. 83

*

The Rolling Stones, “Love Is Strong.” A literally--though probably not quite figuratively--towering achievement. Through some superior digital effects, the Stones grow to skyscraper height and lumber--along with some likewise 50-foot women--through the streets of Manhattan, reconvening over Central Park’s treetops.

The naysayer might say this merely confirms the Stones’ dated bloatedness, making them look like Macy’s Parade balloons. But, in fact, gigantism is one of the greatest of all youthful male fantasies, and this taller-than-thou walk through the park is nothing if not the most supreme, outsize extension of rock juvenilia. Here, to walk tall is not to grow up ‘t’all. 79

*

Green Day, “Basket Case.” The Ramones got here first--not just with the jackhammer power-pop Green Day has so effectively appropriated, but also with the “Psychotherapy” clip, which had that band under sedation long before it occurred to these young-’uns to set up shop in a mental ward. But, derivation aside, this is a trio that just clicks . So does the video, not least of all because all rock drummers should want to play opening rolls and fills as spot-on as Tre does from a wheelchair. (Now if only they’d run into Laura Leighton in a straitjacket, this would’ve been a classic.) 70

*

Ice Cube With George Clinton, “Bop Gun.” There’s something weird and funny about the way Cube always plays the ascetic, even in this celebratory a video. Invited by Clinton to a bash, Cube scowls, “I don’t know, man, your get-togethers are kinda wild ,” as if an actual good time were the worst thing he could think of. Of course Cube shows but--rather than indulge in partying--grimaces and shakes his head, eager no doubt to get back to the bitter business of social commentary. The Benedictine Monks would be proud. 69

*

The Gin Blossoms, “Allison Road.” The Blossoms’ clip is a lot like Lucas’--one traveling Steadicam shot through an underfurnished house, past an array of TV sets showing band performance footage. Unfortunately, the gimmick doesn’t pay off in any interesting way, and you end up wondering more about who’s moving into or out of the house than what the band’s up to on those little 13-inch screens. 50

*

Boyz II Men, “I’ll Make Love to You.” Cartoon-romantic subservience to the n th power: “Your wish is my command / I submit to your demands / I’ll make love to you, when you want me to / And I will not let go till you tell me to.” Is it too late to get these boyz II a sweat lodge or something?

The video has a young woman whose wealth matches her sweetness hiring the group to install a security system at her manse. As she absently luxuriates in a bubble bath, the lonely millionairess gazes longingly at the lads’ business card, and . . . why, isn’t that them out there serenading on the lawn right now? Why isn’t the alarm going off? What kind of security is this? 41

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Changing Faces, “Stroke You Up.” In the ad nauseam chorus, this new female duo asks again and again: “I’ve got a question: Do you mind if I stroke you up? Do you mind if I stroke you down?” Geez, any university co-ed these days knows the importance of verbal contracts as foreplay to intimate relations, but this R&B; ballad sounds less like a come-on than a lengthy pre-coital consent form.

No one will mistake the video’s setting for a dorm room, though. The two remarkably stiff-looking ingenues appear on TV monitors in a dimly lit, Doberman-filled mansion. Watching them is the song’s producer-writer, R. Kelly, a Svengali in silhouette, gripping a wooden cane and responding in a filtered voice, as if through the intercom, “I don’t miiiind . I don’t miiiind .”

Do you mind if we go play with the Dobies out by the pool while you kids have your threesome? Really, we ask it again, do . . . you . . . mind ? 3