I must admit it, this new trailer for Lana Del Rey’s upcoming mini movie ‘Tropico’ got me intrigued, I want to see more of it, and I am not the only one! Almost 200,000 views and more than 2,000 comments in just one day,… is Del Rey really an icon or does she has a very loyal fans who are watching the trailer all day long?
In any case, the trailer looks like that of a super production and this is what she is aiming for, it tells us almost nothing about the music but you get these splendid wide-screen shots of Los Angeles at sunset, Lana eating ice cream in a drugstore or blowing bubbles under the palm trees when she is not living the dangerous life with a bad boyfriend played by model Shaun Ross. I am not sure what’s going on but the image succession suggests lots of biblical references (snake, apple, cross and virgin Mary included) with poll dancers, sex, cigarettes and violence.
The images look attractive enough although the press release tells us that she is attempting to mix old testament with old Hollywood mythology and I am predicting the worst:
‘Tropico is an epic tale based on the biblical story of sin and redemption and features Del Rey starring as Eve. The three-part story begins in the Garden of Eden and travels through time to modern-day Los Angeles. Del Rey’s visual sensibility is rich and fantastical, and the movie’s running themes stay true to the concepts of Born To Die – The Paradise Edition: the loss of innocence, good vs. evil, and trading beauty for money. The film puts closure on the two recordings, and features three songs from The Paradise Edition: ‘Body Electric’, ‘Gods and Monsters’, and ‘Bel Air’.
One thing is sure, Del Rey is certainly trying to do something else than just music videos, she has some big epic ambitions, Kanye West ambitions, and this video may be her own version of my beautiful dark twisted fantasy coproduced by Rick Rubin and directed by music video collaborator Anthony Mandler.
Tropico will be officially released on December 5th via Vevo, and last month, the diva described her project as ‘Elvis and Jesus and Marilyn and extraterrestrials all in one.’ ET is in there too? Now this is crossing the line.