OK, this is a long shot. Back in the early/mid 90s I saw an amazing video, late at night, from some obscure Japanese pop band. I didn’t manage to record it, and I only saw it once and didn’t catch the name of the band. My memory of it may therefore not be the best.
It had a left/right split screen, with one side in reverse action.
As it began, on one side was a woman taking off her makeup, but in reverse. On the other side was the same woman putting on her makeup.
Then she’s walking upstairs backwards then getting out of a taxi backwards, and in the other frame she is walking downstairs and getting into a taxi, which arrives at a club; in the other one, the woman is leaving a club backwards, and so on.
Eventually, [spoiler]you realise that it is in fact the same film in both frames, and in the reverse video, every forwards action has an almost-perfect reverse action. And in the middle of the song, the videos cross over, so the backwards woman in the club arrives at it while the forwards woman leaves it.
And if that isn’t amazing enough, it was all done in a single shot.[/spoiler]
A staggering piece of video making, and I’d love to see it again if it’s on the web. I don’t really know what to search on, so I ask the SDMB: ring any bells for anyone?
Band: Cibo matto. Great video. I think it may be called “sugar water”. I will check when I get home. I know I’ve seen it on youtube so you could try it out over there first.
And in a damning indictment of my own imagination and memory, it’s way cleverer and weirder than I remembered. How on earth did they work that out? That’s verging on genius.
Oh! I hadn’t realized it was by the same guy who brought us Eternal Sunshine, as well as two of my other favorite music videos: Daft Punk - Around the World and Foo Fighters - Everlong.