Video: The Body, "At the Mercy of It All"

The Body recently relocated to Portland and, according to an interview they recently did with VICE, they sold their AK-47s to afford the move.  Clearly, the guitar-and-drum duo aren't timid when it comes to approaching the genuine terror of real-life, and their videos are notoriously goose bump-inducing. 

But the interesting characteristic of anything the doomy duo does is that the acts of violence are never actually seen, but simply implied—which, of course, is much more horrifying. In "To Attempt Openness,” we see what can only be assumed is blood, spewing onto a canvas in black and white. In "Shrouded," we watch through security footage as a family is under attack in their home, but the assailants are never shown.

In this new short film “At The Mercy Of It All,” which was inspired by I Shall Die Here, the Body’s collaboration with eerie U.K. noise artist Haxan Cloak, we see a man who remains in solitary in a cabin deep in the woods. He appears deeply tormented by something that eats him up so badly that he covers the walls with newspaper clippings telling of a tragic event. He begins having dreams of burying himself alive. In the end, we see the grief reach its tipping point as he sets fire to the ripped-up shards of newsprint and walk away, putting it all behind him—but not before dropping a photo of his past, clean-shaven self posed with a woman. 

The Body are here to remind us that there is nothing heavier or more terrifying than the day-to-day madness of humanity, and that you don't need to see gratuitous imagery to understand how deep grief can run. There is nothing more gruesome than reality.

WWeek 2015

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