David Bowie’s new album The Next Day (his first in 10 years, don’t forget) is obsessed with mortality and the uncertainty of the future. And in his video for the album’s title track, he taps into those themes of death and resurrection with the help of two world-famous actors who are very good at evoking both of those things.
In the clip, Bowie stands on stage performing for a number of characters that include a violent priest (played with studious pathos by Gary Oldman) and a stigmata-afflicted showgirl (Oscar winner Marion Cotillard).
Bowie plays up the Jesus imagery present in the song’s lyrics — the chorus includes a line about his “body left to rot in a hollow tree” — and in the end thanks everybody for his own professional resurrection.
Check it out below (though fair warning: it’s vaguely NSFW because of quite a bit of blood and a nipple or two). READ FULL STORY »
