Dispatch, Daniels. A future ruler (or queen) of postmodern film has emerged, and her name is Lana Del Radio. The recent years have seen this editing master combine LDR tunes with some of cinema’s…some of cinema. The selections for the primary sources seem strange. Who still remembers Observe and Report or the movie adaptation of the Death Note? She is Lana Del Radio. Kurt Cobain and Lana Del Rey, according to Courtney Love, are the only two actual geniuses she has ever known. Yet as far as I know, Love has never met the creative force for Lana Del Radio. Because a new Lana record is set to be released in March, there is only hope that Lana Del Radio will resume her career after a little hiatus. Perhaps combining “Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Surf Boulevard” with “Heat”? While you wait, please enjoy what might be the pinnacle of western culture: a YouTube user who goes unidentified mashes up The Wolves of Wall Street sequences with Lana Del Rey’s “National Anthem.”
Wild Things/”Salvatore”
Trashy, sexy crimes in Florida? Murder? Threesomes? totally unexpected plot turns? It makes fitting that this charming little video for “Salvatore,” a song that contrasts getting slaughtered by a hot guy with eating ice cream, would be made since Wild Things is heavily influenced by Lana Del Rey.
The Evil Dead Franchise/Break Things
It’s crucial to remember that Lana Del Radio produces videos for a variety of artists. Yeah, the vast majority of the canon is LDR. But every year, Lana Del Radio creates horrific mashups with music other than her own. This one is so great that for a moment I thought NuMetal was back to its old self. The highlight is this Limp Bizkit/Sam Raimi jam. A tribute to the monster feminine set to “WAP” and a deadly Misfits/Night of the Comet quickie are also included. Also, there is a fantastic Bruno Mars/Leprechaun video.
Jackie’s “Swan Song”
Up until I saw this video, I never wanted to watch Jackie. This mashup makes perfect sense because Lana Del Ray has become famous for her Kennedy girl imagery. The work this film does is nonetheless transformational. Jacqueline Kennedy transitions from being entrapped by her own pain to falling in love with it as a result. The TikTok sound tells you to start romanticising your life.
Riding a hot rod
Creating pathos from a very foolish comedy is one area in which Lana Del Radio absolutely shines. While combining “West Coast” with Baz Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet doesn’t require any special editing skills, discovering the elegiac sweetness in movies such Hot Rod and Tommy Boy does. Regarding that Tommy Boy song, Lana Del Radio made the following comment on their own movie: I recognise myself in this film, which makes me reflect on all the lives I’ve impacted & how I am the finest thing to have ever happened to them.
Austin Powers Trilogy, “Honeymoon”
“We both know that loving me is not in style.” Did she really say it all in that one sentence? Further connections between Lana Del Radio and the great characters of our time are made with each new video LDR produces. There’s a James Bond type, a Jay Gatsby one, and Austin “Danger” Powers is the archetypal 20th century hero. Both Austin Powers and Lana Del Rey are time-swinging lovers. Identity politics, love, longing, feminism, eros, and thanatos are all subject to a jumble of paradoxes. Swingin’ 1960s, baby, here I come! L.A. Del Rey
The Twilight Saga’s “Dark Paradise”
No one has ever embodied the early LDR sentiment of “I want to death from love, but much more than that, I only want to die” like Bella Swan. (Everyone else in Twilight is a close second for “Most LDR-esque character ever.”) With exaggerated backstories at every turn, The Twilight Saga is a crazy source text. Everyone’s discontentment is so seductive. This video’s use of language and subtext is flawless.
