sugar water

Derisively used to describe soda pop.

When I was a kid and I wanted to have a Coke or root beer, my parents would say, "No, you cannot drink Coke or root beer because it's nothing but sugar water" and I would whine, whine, whine and drink my lowfat milk or juice. I used to think they said that because they were cheap bastards who didn't want to spend all of that money to buy Coke or root beer until I started grocery shopping for myself and found out that both milk and juice are a hell of a lot more expensive than sugar water. Hell, even bottled water is more expensive than soda pop. Anyhow, I found my mom's hidden cache of Fresca in the garage one day and I was so excited. Because here was sugar water! In my house! So I ran back into the kitchen to grab a bottle opener (this was back when bottles were glass) and greedily drank the entire bottle only to discover that Fresca tastes like warm, flat dog piss. I think it must have been the saccharine.

Anyhow, that's my sugar water story.

Affirming what Magenta said over in the Cibo Matto node, Michael Gondry declared his work on the Sugar Water video his best yet. It was a one take video, impressively. The story is told on two sides of the screen. Band member Miho on one side and band member Yuka on the other.

Yuka created atmospherics which make you feel like you're listening to some kind of opium dream. Miho lalalas and whispers in your ear: "The buildings are changing,
into coconut trees,
Little by Little."
It's so simple, naive, and evocative. It is feathery and drawn out. It is the perfect setting for Michel Gondry's imagination.

The video was a masterpiece purely for the immaculate timing. A black cat jumps out of Yuka's screen as it jumps into Miho's.. which is fair enough, except that Gondry shows the story forwards in the left screen, and backwards in the right! Although we don't figure this out until later.

The story starts with the girls taking sugar water showers, sugar crystals on their heads. They get dressed and leave the apartment. Miho sends Yuka a ransom note from the other side of the screen, Yuka gets in a car, Miho wears a helmet. Yuka soon slams on her brakes, and hits something we can't see. She gets out of the car, shell-shocked, and finds Miho laying on the sidewalk. Then we see Miho’s ransom note on both sides of the screen.

"You Killed Me"

Now the video moves in reverse and on opposite sides of the screen. Miho suddenly recites the lyrics as Yuka drives her car backwards. They reach their apartments again and pass the note. The black cat crosses their paths again. But now while it looks like the story is going in reverse, really the story is continuing. The 2 are going home and getting ready for bed. They take their sugar water showers and fall asleep in the same dream they woke up in.

You definitely need to watch the video more than once to uncover the hidden bits, the beautifully synchronised elements, the nuances. It's genius.