The first frame I ever saw of Lily Allen in a music video made me a fan. In the opening shot in 2009's "Smile", I'm almost positive she's eating an Aero bar - my favorite chocolate bar. Allow me to describe the Aero bar. It's a chocolate bar with air bubbles inside, so it has a very interesting and fun texture. It's tough to find in the US, but in Canada where I spent my early chocolate eating years, it's everywhere.
Anyways, even though Lily Allen and her over the top revenge in "Smile" kind of scared me, she's made some fantastic music videos with some amazing directors. And today, we're watching my favorite out of the lot, "Alfie" from 2007, directed by Sarah Chatfield.
If you are a Game of Thrones fan, you are definitely familiar with Lily Allen's brother, Alfie Allen, who plays Theon Greyjoy. Besides being in Game of Thrones, Alfie has something else to be proud about - his sister wrote a song about him, called Alfie.
Yes, Aflie is not about the 1966 movie of the same name or the 2004 remake starring Jude Law. (Jude Law as Alfie? WTF?) It's about Allen's brother, and it's not about how Alfie is a great guy, it's more about how Alfie is a stoner screw up.
The video takes place in a cartoon-like home, and stars Lily Allen as a cartoonishly-styled version of herself in a dress. Alfie is a puppet. Rumor has it that Alfie Allen was actually intended to be in this video, but didn't want to, presumably because he realized the video is basically how he is a moron and has his sister walk in on him wanking it. So, we instead have puppet Alfie Allen, who is, suffice it to say, a much better counterpart for Lily than the real Alfie could probably have been. He's funny looking, walks funny, is tiny, and gets off to sexy pictures of other puppets.
What I really enjoy about this video is how Sarah Chatfield manages to create a relationship between Lily and her brother that makes it more than just Lily Allen having fun with a puppet. She creates a backstory where Lily is doing her best to set Alfie up for success (ironing his suit, circling job opportunities) and adds some elements that makes it seem like puppet Alfie really does want to make his sister happy. She scolds him for flipping off the blue birds and he definitely feels bad, but that doesn't mean that he is actually going to change.
And then there is Lily Allen herself. She's an artist that has had dramatically different styling in several of her videos, and here she is styled as someone firmly in the domestic realm to match her kitchen surrounding. We rarely see her outside of the kitchen set, and when we do it's only to deliver something to Alfie. It's is a big departure from her styling as the street-wise, revenge-seeking girl in "Smile", just a year earlier.
"Aflie" is a really unique song musically, and Sarah Chatfield manages to create a music video to match. I'm still scared that Lily Allen is going to have her friends trash my apartment.
