Have you ever watched The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and found yourself wondering, “Man, I wonder what Cate Blanchett would look like if her face melted plum off her body?” Us too! Thankfully legendary trip-hop group Massive Attack are on the same page as all of us and imagined that very strange set of circumstances in their new music video for “The Spoils.”
Having just released a similarly creepy music video last week for their brooding song, “Come Near Me,” Massive Attack complimented that sonic dreariness with the orchestral lushness of “The Spoils,” which features Mazzy Stars’ vocalist Hope Sandoval uttering foreboding lyrics: “I’ve got that bad feeling.” Seemingly simple, the music video pans in circles around the soft visage of Cate Blanchett—okay, pretty normal—and then she starts to sweat. Alright, that happens to faces when they got hot. Then it turns out, her face isn’t sweating, per se; rather, it is melting right off her head. The visual effects and makeup team did a really convincing job on this one as Blanchett gradually loses the nuance and features of her face, becoming first a mannequin with a wig and then slowly, a decayed stone statue. It is extremely unnerving and makes you think about the impermanence of identity in an increasingly transient, obsolescent world. It also makes you think: boy I sure hope my face doesn’t melt plum off my head!
What do you guys think of this creepy ass video? Are you also now worried about your face? Let us know in the comments below.
Image: Warner Bros., Paramount
Matt Grosinger is the music editor of Nerdist and is actually a 65-year-old aging in reverse.
