Aidan Zamiri takes an iconoclastic leap into new territory, and shows that the stuffy British legal drama is ripe for reinvention in his wonderful video for indie duo Jockstrap.The video for the band's splendid Greatest Hits takes on a familiar story throughout pop and rock history, when fame and success leads to in-fighting, legal wrangling, and ends up in court in a blaze of publicity. The genius of the video is how Zamiri gives this story a properly rock 'n roll treatment.Princess Julia - DJ, writer, "beloved mother of London’s underground" (The Gentlewoman), whose first video appearance was in Visage's Fade To Grey - and actor John Foley are superbly cast as the feuding rock couple at the centre of the story, around whom a courtroom epic plays out, delivered through the prism of a lo-fi, trashy, surreal version of Court TV. As a continuous scrolling news tickertape relays details of the somewhat incomprehensible legal case, witnesses arrive and testify and legal officials of the courtroom mouth lyrics of the song. And the portrait by the courtroom artist bursts into full animation.With an unfeasibly large cast of characters and cameos - including Don Letts as a witness and Jamie xx on a legal team - this is a satire on fame and media frenzy that hits the mark without ever losing its sense of fun or cool.In fact, in our judgement, it's supercool.
David Knight - 24th Jan 2023