Björk: All Is Full of Love (1999 Music Video) User Reviews

brings a tear to my eye...

[framptonhollis · 10/10 · 10 September 2017]

The harsh contrast of blacks and whites giving off a sleek, visually appealing vibe. Machines crafting machines, no heart in sight among this industrialist landscape made up of emotionless androids and painful, yet unrealized loneliness. However, feelings and passions somehow sneak through the setting's inhuman cracks and soon the screen flickers with exciting, erotic, and otherworldly pictures of peace and happiness. This is not a music video, this is a work of heavy, tearjerking art.

To me, the pain and passion of love is expressed with flawless beauty in this only four minute long short. It's a tribute to the human heart, even if the only characters in sight are actually robotic, which gives the short a hint of self reflective irony. Are digital projections and works made possible only by emotionless drones of advanced technological non-beings truly the best way a human being can connect and relate in this world? Well, "All is Full of Love" proves that no matter what, a fine enough filmmaker and a fine enough musical artist can stuff a bare, four minute running time with far more feeling and power than almost any other work of art being released today.

Pornographic Depiction of Lust

[Tornado_Sam · 3/10 · 30 June 2019]

Throughout the many different types of film I've seen, music videos have never been particularly appealing to me, especially if the music is largely generic-sounding. However, there are exceptions, including imaginative and surreal videos including "Rubber Johnny" (which I love) or those by the Brothers Quay ("Are We Still Married?"). "Bjork: All Is Full of Love" is not horrible, and it does have positive aspects, but the main thing that didn't allow it to work for me outside the rather bland aspect of the action included the risque manner in which the message was presented.

First of all, allow me to say that the effects are great in what they do for the overall look. The CGI used to show the machines creating the male robot and the superimposing used to show human faces on the robots are both extremely well done, and the entire setting looks great overall. Of course, the music for the video is also a very nice piece by Aphex Twin. This can't be touched either, because it's very harmless in itself and not as generic as others I've heard.

However, the entire video and effects are wasted upon a truly otherworldly and overly pornographic depiction of lust which (and I am not exaggerating) looks pretty suggestive when one really looks at it. The other reviewer for this title says that this is a beautiful work of art showing peace and happiness, which is not wrong to be sure. It is how that theme is presented is what makes it questionable. While robots, the machines in this video display many human body features, including realistic butt-cracks and breasts. Plus, just look at the IMDb photo still: the way the robots are positioned is in such a way that it suggests sexual intercourse between both of them. The kissing is very exaggerated on top of that, with graphic lip-to-lip connections and even slurping on both parts. It is impossible not to see this: the whole thing is made so obvious and depicted in a very pornographic and suggestive manner that anyone who has seen enough modern cinema would notice. As such, I can't recommend something like "All is Full of Love", except to listen to. We need to watch what goes in through the eye-gate, and if you are sensitive and easily aroused by something like this, I would say stay away.

EDIT: My review got downvoted four times now, and I think it's because of the fact my criticism aimed at it is extremely minor considering sexual imagery such as this is common in cinema today. I can't help but feel people really are hating on me just because of this observation. Yes, it's true, I don't approve of such material on film at all, but just because you don't agree with my values does not mean you can bash the review. If it's not helpful, click 'no' and move on. But don't click 'no' if you hate the review, because that's not what that button is there for.