[Music video: Sigur Rós]
Sort of what Billy Elliot might look like if (a) the sexual undertones were allowed to explode to the fore; (b) Billy were a soccer player; and (c) it were directed by Brian De Palma at his most Carrie-era romantic (read: slo-mo and overemoting). A beautiful, longing coming-of-age drama distilled into an epic seven-minute clip, it’s what Get Real and Beautiful Thing would have been, had they not been derailed with sideshow subplots. It also doesn’t appear to have anything to prove; it’s not really clear that the two soccer mates are anything more than chums revelling in the moment of triumph and doing what comes naturally. And the moody grays and blues of the Icelandic landscape are the ideal compliment to the boys’ muted anguish. As for the music, it has all the heft of a stirring dramatic score (indeed, Sigur Rós seems almost more appropriate when presented with a visual supplement). Claims from the band that they’re reinventing music aside, their sound is soul-cleansing, especially if it appears on MTV2 next to Staind and Mudvayne.