I hate the official video for “We Take Care Of Our Own”.
I hate the actual cinematography - the jump shots, the constant camera movement, the lack of cohesion or consistency, the faux artistry from shooting in black and white. Bruce Springsteen has more energy playing guitar than most of us have in our lifetime at any age, if you want to convey that put him in a context that will let that come out instead of putting a camera on a crane or a dolly. I’m a big fan of Thom Zimny’s previous work, and one of the things I like the most about it is how well he knows Bruce and the amount of cohesion in his work. I am not finding those elements in this video.
I hate the bits behind the plastic curtain the most. Is this a slaughterhouse? A construction site? What is he doing there? It’s not a cool effect or an interesting one, it’s a lame, low-budget one.
Also, I am so so so tired of the “Springsteen video in abandoned decaying buildings” theme, unless those buildings are somehow significant to the song.
I hate the shots in which he’s not playing a guitar. I hate the acting out, the pensive shots from above, the raised hands - which I love when they are organic and real and live, I’m one of those people that is raising my hand during “faith will be rewarded” even if I’m in the car all by myself - make me feel uncomfortable because it feels forced and artificial.
I hate that the words are splashed across the screen like a bad karaoke video. His audience doesn’t need the words, and the people I believe it is directed at will mis-use this song even with the words in their face. (I do appreciate that at least this time the intern looked up how you spell “cavalry” but I also cared a lot less about that [read: not at all] than the rest of the internet seemed to.)
I hate that Bruce looks awkward and uncomfortable except when he’s playing the guitar long enough to forget he’s playing it in a studio with a camera pointed at him. I winced through my first watch, the way you wince when you see a friend doing something that’s very out of character, and not in a good, taking chances kind of way.
The shots of Bruce in isolation are odd to me when the song is about the opposite of being isolated. I get it, he’s not on tour and they’re rehearsing and getting an audience together to shoot it would have been difficult (but not impossible given that they were in Asbury shooting on the first day of Light of Day when there were tons of sympathetic potential audience members milling about, and they recruited a bunch of them for that last crowd scene), but then choose a different storyline.
I hate that the message shots (the homeless person, the guy with the kid on his shoulder, etc.) aren’t specific enough to be effective or sufficiently abstract. They look sloppy and accidental. The best shot in the video that makes this point is the one at the very end, which we know was staged. But that doesn’t take away from its power, because it’s not a documentary, it’s a video.
On the up side, Bruce looks great. I kinda like the song, or at least it’s growing on me and I’m sure it’ll be fantastic live. I think this video could have been better, stronger, more interesting. However, judging by the reaction this morning my opinion is in the minority, and it’ll probably get played a lot, which is why you make a video in the first place.
Looking forward to breaking the live isolation on Sunday night.
