The Toronto premier of Justice’s new tour documentary, A Cross the Universe, was screened at CiRCA nightclub Wednesday, hours prior to the French duo’s ripping midnight set to over a thousand sweaty fans.
It’s the first DVD release from the Ed Banger imprint and helmed by Romain Gavras and So Me, both of whom directed music videos for the group. So Me’s responsible for the t-shirt wizardry of “D.A.N.C.E, while Gavras hit us with the disturbingly realistic “Stress” clip, one of the most arresting videos to come out this year.
The Ed Banger brand has always been about the endless party, so with cameras following Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Auge 24/7 during a North American tour you expect a lot of tits, drunks and heavy metal disco as teased in the trailer. You get it but you don’t.
As he deftly demonstrated in the Stress video, Gavras has a taste for ugliness. He dials down the glamour of Justice’s bacchanalian exploits in favour of displaying cringe-worthy Americanisms. Heart-stopping hamburgers, Hooters girl photo shoots, Auge’s surreal fake wedding in Vegas and a disarmingly large amount of time devoted to gun stores, people shooting guns and a stage manager becoming increasingly unhinged with his firearm. You get the sense Gavras is making a point about American society, as Justice lose themselves in their circus-like surroundings.
