• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, August 12, 2010

Branded entertainment clearly is getting full of itself when some variations on the theme start showing up at film festivals. As Slate's Sasha Watson points out in a comprehensive essay and slide show on the phenomenon, the medium-length fashion-branded films for Dior, Donna Karan and Chanel are being screen at exclusive venues this season in increasing numbers.

Of course making it all the more haute couture is the presence behind the camera lens of notable directors. And it is not new. Several years ago the late Dennis Hopper directed Gwyneth Paltrow in a short for Tod's Pashmy bags. She is running from paparazzi of course and leaves her bag behind. Other than having Gwyneth in it, the film is remarkably unremarkable in style, story or pace, which is languorous and glimpses the handbag much too often.

David Lynch's turn for Dior is the third in a series from the fashion house that includes a number of other directors. He takes the handbag ad to a new Lynchian level. This bag literally seems possessed, spewing smoke and light. Much of the tortuous film is spent waiting for people to talk. About halfway through the old Lynch dreamscapes kick in, along with the red curtains and Twin Peaks ambiance. Yeah, there are even strobe flashes. No one does WTF quite like Lynch. The good thing about his sojourns into brandertainemnt is that he seems to be making fun of himself in the process. There are so many visual allusions to past work and pained attempts to communicate emotion from characters we don't know that you are pretty sure this "Lady Blue shanghai" film is Lynch mocking Lynch making a handbag ad. In a spot he did for the Sony PS2 years ago he did an homage to his own early underground classic Eraserhead.

It seems almost petty to ask whether the film communicates anything about the product, other than making the bag a marker for deeper passions. But by that time we have been clubbed over the head with the attempt so forcefully our instinct is to reject what Lynch and Dior are selling.

Putting auteurs in charge of branding messages surely is a risky business. A little more promising is the film by Sting's son Jake Sumner for a Donna Karan bag. It was scheduled to open the LA Short Film festival. It benefits from a more modest, commercial-like ambition and brevity -- only two minutes. Christina Ricci demonstrates four sides of her personality in a multi-paned montage of sexy and fun moments from a striking but moody starlet. By God, the film actually communicates some interesting product attribute, its versatility and at the same time entertains. And it has a nice visual punch line in an elevator where the four Riccis meet and then merge.

Still, even in the best of these cases, it feels as if an experienced commercial director would have done better at supplying wit, pace and point.

The genre of auteur brandertainment will get a lot of attention in coming months. According to Watson the most famous auteur of them all, Scorsese, will have an online launch of his film for Chanel's men's fragrance in the fall. Personally, I am hoping for a Joe Pesci cameo. He needs the work and I can only dream of scenarios involving him, a cologne bottle, and a guy at the bar who thinks he is funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku1Zoga34jU&feature=player_embedded