just waiting for my girl from another world

What happens when you combine Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami, American actress Kirsten Dunst, and vowelless director McG over a classic ’80s hit from one of my favorite bands?  Would you believe it’s this?

(Warning: contains images not safe for work or family.)

(via BoingBoing, who just referred to “Murakami” in their post, and thus had me thinking they meant Haruki Murakami, which made even less sense.)

I’m not really sure how I feel about this video.  Dunst’s cover doesn’t bring a lot musically, but I don’t think that’s the point.  The trio seems to have set out to make something more like a short film, but it has no sense of narrative or flow.  Magical Girl Super Kirtsen doesn’t have a consistent character–in one shot, she seems lost and outside of reality, in the next she’s flirting with the camera like we’re real and everyone else is outside.  There’s some cultural statement lurking under the surface–not just about being an outsider, but about how we relate to pop culture, how foreigners can become engrossed in what is commonplace to locals (BoingBoing talked a bit about this recently), but the quick-cut, non-linear film never manages to get to the point.  I give it an A for concept, C for execution.

For contrast, here’s what an actual Vapors video looks like: