Rob Munday
Our music video channel here on Short of the Week has been somewhat barren of late. It’s not the we don’t love a good MV (we really do), but we decided sometime ago to only focus on the ones that were either narratively strong or innovative and pioneering. Jeff Nichols’ (yep “that” Jeff Nichols) eight-minute video Long Way Back Home, for his Brother Ben’s band Lucero, isn’t exactly the most groundbreaking thing you’ll see in 2018, but what it lacks in originality, it more than makes up for with its unmistakable quality.
Narratively and structurally, Long Way Back Home doesn’t add anything new to the music video form. It’s essentially a four-minute dialogue-free piece bookended with two scenes of character interaction. However, Nichols does a great job (as you would expect from a director of his quality) of building character and backstory in the video’s sub eight-minute run-time.
Supported by a stellar cast, including Michael Shannon, Scoot McNairy and Paul Sparks, the narrative follows a brother returning to town, eager to track down his younger siblings. It’s a moody, atmospheric piece that’s quick to hook you in, but if you’re looking for a strong narrative conclusion you might be a little disappointed with this one, as Nichols was eager to leave things open-ended – as he explains in this interview with vulture.com:
“I would be thrilled if the boards fill up with, ‘Wow, I want to see this as a movie,’” said Nichols. “That would be great because, oddly, I really want to know what happens after the last scene! We talked a lot about it on set, and it was kind of hilarious to hear everybody’s conclusion of what happens three seconds after it cuts to black. But I would 100 percent make that movie.”
Originally planned as a nonlinear montage of Shannon walking around Memphis, I’m glad Nichols decided to flesh out his video and turn it from a Jeff Nichols music video to more of a Jeff Nichols short film. I’ve been a fan of the director for some time and its his work with actor Shannon that really sees him shine and it feels very much that without the presence of his lead actor this piece wouldn’t have been anywhere near as effective.
I’m not going to lie though, if this music video wasn’t helmed by Nichols and didn’t star the likes of Shannon and McNairy, it’s likely we wouldn’t have featured it. That’s not to say we’re only featuring it because of those famous names, but without them there’s a good chance we wouldn’t have even discovered the video. And though they’re just directors and performers like any other we would feature, the quality they bring to this piece makes it just too difficult to ignore.