Alice Kong explores a man's surreal addiction in her video for Pointless. In the world of this visual, Kong sublimates the rose flower into an addictive and dangerous new currency - and featured artist Ichon decides to bypass the rules and grow his own roses.

Mimicking the stages of drug trafficking, we see him order the seeds, install artificial neon lights, grow the product, pick and prick the roses in order to create a stock sufficient to afford the escort girl he wants. The appearance of the much desired woman in return for the commodity highlights the detached and impersonal nature of this parallel universe.

The video is reminiscent of fashion film, with a colourful and euphoric colour palette and lingering conceptual shots, underpinned by a transcendent performance from Ichon and his female co-star. 

ALICE KONG:

"When I met the artists (Dune & Crayon), they told me that the title of their album Hundred Fifty Roses refers to the currency on escort sites which is expressed in roses. 1 euro = 1 rose. This touch of surrealist romanticism inspired me immediately and made me want to transpose it literally in this music video.

The music video tells the story of an isolated character, played by Ichon, who falls on a pop up of an escort girl who will fascinate him. On escort sites, the currency is expressed in roses, a way of hiding the fact that this is a paid affection. I wanted to tell the story of this young man who decides to grow roses all over his apartment in order to collect enough to meet the girl. The rose appears magnified, radiant, hypnotic, like any vice that attracts.

"When they meet, they live a mystical experience where the rose becomes a drug. It is the next day that the last two shots suggest that Ichon falls addicted to his plantation, more than to the girl. So in this music video, I placed the rose, an iconic symbol of romanticism, as a metaphor for vices: it multiplies, obsesses and creates a vicious circle."

JAMES COOTE (DOP):

"Alice's references explored both the real and the surreal, the insertion of everyday elements into a fantastic universe. It was interesting to work visually, both on this boundary and the connections between these two worlds. This film is my third collaboration with Crayon, an artist whose very cinematographic music lends itself to interesting visuals, and is part of Alice's plastic work.   

"In this project, beyond the fictional approach, I tried to create paintings of Ichon's life with sensitive camera movements that evolve with the rhythm of the song. Also, depth of field was an important axis: the character had to be isolated in his environment and the spectator close to him, which led us to use short focal lengths with a large aperture."