The touch of Gothic stories and few drops of Pasolini 's Salo, the lyrics about impossible love and the atmosphere , the impecable performances and the cinematography are the pillars of this video reminding not only an eccentric, fantasy past but the spirit of a so familiar decadence.
2 Reviews
Take me to a better song and music video please
Horst_In_Translation10 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
"Dinner & Diatribes" is a 4.5-minute short film from 2019, but the more accurate description here is of course that this is a music video. You can read the name of Hozier in the title and thhis Irish singer is the star here. Well, not really, but I will get to that later. In any case, most people may know the man "Take Me to Church" from over five years earlier which is indeed a really catchy tune, but this one here also did not get me one bit curious to take a deeper look into his body of work. Perhaps my loss at this point, but I found the outcome here pretty uninterestin, uninspired and very much style over substance. This applies not only to the song itself, but also the music video. The one who directed this music video was Anthony Byrne, also from Ireland, and he has worked with Hozier on other occasions and also directed many television episodes, some of those from fairly famous shows. So a really solid deal of experience here and then why did it all go kinda wrong that I would say four stars out of ten is still on the generous side? I guess it has a lot to do with the song. I mean the tune did not reach a single charts entry apparently. Or at least not a single major charts entry.
The reason why this is still (relatively) high on the imdb Starmeter and many people are opening this title page is the inclusion of Anya Taylor-Joy from The Queen's Gambut, Emma. and a bunch of other successful releases. But especially TQG is truly making waves these days and raising the actress' popularity sky high really. I would not call myself a (huge) fan of her to be honest, but her recognition value is undeniable, like a bit of a more extreme Emma Stone. Kinda fitting she appeared in that Emma. movie I just mentioned and also scored key nominations for her performance there. Here in this short film, however, her presence feels all style and zero substance. Her character is very much on the excessive side crawling over big banquet tables. Sadly that's it and so there is no real story to it. The male key actor here is Hozier himself. Him you also see on the poster I believe and his addition is basically linked to fire and how he keeps burning more and more as the film goes on. The flames increase in size. So what can you say here. It is a bit spectacular to watch, but this is it. No plot, not a memorable song, nothing. This absolutely cannot win me over and the rating here on imdb is exaggeratedly high. Highly exaggerated in fact. Skip both the watch and listen this time unless you really adore the artist. Simply liking him (as I do) won't be enough at all. I am glad it was this short.
The reason why this is still (relatively) high on the imdb Starmeter and many people are opening this title page is the inclusion of Anya Taylor-Joy from The Queen's Gambut, Emma. and a bunch of other successful releases. But especially TQG is truly making waves these days and raising the actress' popularity sky high really. I would not call myself a (huge) fan of her to be honest, but her recognition value is undeniable, like a bit of a more extreme Emma Stone. Kinda fitting she appeared in that Emma. movie I just mentioned and also scored key nominations for her performance there. Here in this short film, however, her presence feels all style and zero substance. Her character is very much on the excessive side crawling over big banquet tables. Sadly that's it and so there is no real story to it. The male key actor here is Hozier himself. Him you also see on the poster I believe and his addition is basically linked to fire and how he keeps burning more and more as the film goes on. The flames increase in size. So what can you say here. It is a bit spectacular to watch, but this is it. No plot, not a memorable song, nothing. This absolutely cannot win me over and the rating here on imdb is exaggeratedly high. Highly exaggerated in fact. Skip both the watch and listen this time unless you really adore the artist. Simply liking him (as I do) won't be enough at all. I am glad it was this short.
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