Isaac Bauman

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Discovering More Unfortunate Details with Placebo, Bret Easton Ellis and Director Saman Kesh

Even the simplest situation can be made awfully complicated. Director Saman Kesh enlists narrator Bret Easton Ellis to solve yet another mystery for Placebo. This time we have projectile vomit, a slaphappy creep, a rash and a possibly spiked blue drink.

And, we also have some NSFW elements, so you might want to study this like a Zapruder Film in the comfort of your own home.

PS: There's a quiz at the end. Good luck.

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Drake "Worst Behavior" (Director X and Drake, dir.)

We open on the legendary Royal Willie Studios for some classic and classy soul sounds. And then we see those suave cats outside the studio, surrounded by the rougher reality of modern Memphis. "Cruel Intentions" tales several sharp turns like that — including a comedic break with two of Drake's cohorts doing "bizness" with Memphis rap titans Project Pat and Juicy J  — but each one adds to the overall vibe of this 10 minute workout.

And, ps: The moustache man in the first part of the video? That's Drake's dad.  

In Depth

Solving the Placebo "Too Many Friends" Video with Director Saman Kesh

Placebo "Too Many Friends" is one of those great videos that can be easily summed-up in a couple bullet-points to a newbie — it's narrated by author Bret Easton Ellis and ends with a quiz — but also stands up to repeated viewings and close studies. The video is a mystery, but also a critique about how we've been lulled into submission by our digital devices and the well-chose pharmaceutical.

We recently chatted with director Saman Kesh via email about how the video came together, the irony of it all, and what it means — including how the video is slyly, if a bit coincidentally connected to The Dark Knight Rises.

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Placebo "Too Many Friends" (Saman Kesh, dir.)

Narrator Bret Easton Ellis — yes, the dude who wrote Less Than Zero — and director Saman Kesh (aka Saman Keshavarz) explore the anatomy of a seemingly simple scene that reveals itself to be far more complex upon closer inspection. But the moral here isn't the unreliability of perception; it's the danger of relying on technology and drugs that actually amplify, instead of serving our desires and fears.