Underplayed Gems

Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989)

Rhythm Nation 1814 poster
Directed by
Dominic Sena
Country
United States
Runtime
30 min
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like this

How it feels

This is a short film featuring music videos from Janet Jackson's album Rhythm Nation 1814. It shows her and dancers in black military-style uniforms performing choreographed routines in a warehouse setting.

energeticdance-heavystylishuniformsyncopateddystopianiconic

What happens

Rhythm Nation 1814 is a 1989 American musical short film based on Janet Jackson's fourth studio album of the same name. Directed by Dominic Sena, the film notably includes the music video for "Rhythm Nation", as well as the videos for "Miss You Much" and "The Knowledge". It was filmed at the Bradbury Building in Los Angeles and the Glenarm Power Plant in Pasadena, California. The video is notable for its "dystopian" warehouse setting, the unisex black military-style uniforms in which Jackson and her dancers were outfitted, and its choreography, considered to "set the template for hundreds of videos to come in the 1990s and 2000s". The film premiered on MTV on September 16, 1989, coinciding with the release of the album, and was later released on VHS and LaserDisc by A&M Video. It won multiple accolades, including MTV's Video Vanguard Award for Jackson's impact on entertainment. Various actors and choreographers, including Wade Robson and Travis Payne, have cited Jackson and the "Rhythm Nation" routine as a major influence on their careers. Entertainment Weekly considered the video "legendary", and Rolling Stone included it in a list of 10 Favorite Dancing Musicians, calling Jackson "a brilliant dancer". The publication also titled it "the gold standard for dystopian dance pop music videos", featuring "some of the most memorable choreography in pop video history". The long-form video won a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video in 1990. The home video release has been certified two-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of 200,000 units. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.