Lots of Stress

I’m a big fan of those “holy shit, is that real” kind of videos.

For example, the breakdancer kicking the kid running out into the dance circle, the dynamite that was thrown into the river causing a wave for a surfer to ride on, or the new video by JUSTICE.

Directed by French director, Romain Gavras, “Stress” is shot in the burroughs of Paris, no different from Paris J’Te Aime, except, in Gavras’ work, you won’t find much love, but the polar opposite.

The video depicts a gang of juveniles, images conjuring a bit of the Outsiders, traveling throughout their day and creating havoc throughout the city, and stress for their victims, and strangely enough, emoting through the screen into the rising bpm of your heart. You feel sympathetic to the victims, then you cross that once thought of as impenetrable binary line into the multifarious world of good and bad; do you begin to care about the gang themselves and fear for them not being caught? Anxiety, frustration, anger, and sympathy mounts.

A bit stressful I’d say.

It’s an absolutely beautiful piece of work, conveying the song’s theme and mechanics…but is it real or is it staged?