SNACK Premiere: Giorgio – Drexler

Drexler’s ‘Giorgio’ is a tragically stunning composition. Quietly elegiac, it forms part of his widely supported album Olympia-5, composed as an innovative way of entertaining and communicating with his ailing father. Now, director/editor Vito Milazzo imaginatively reworks that grief in his music video for ‘Giorgio’. Milazzo, who comes to the project after having worked on shows like the BBC’s BAFTA-winning Last Commanders,  reimagines the track as a bright, airy short film that evocatively illustrates the song’s openheartedness. His video juxtaposes Drexler’s own story with that of an earnest young man, Jack, played by Stephen Kerr. 

Rendered in cool, muted colours, the film’s gentle pace gives plenty of breathing room to Jack’s silent expressions, which initially shift between subtle shades of bewilderment, restlessness and loss. Jack’s emotional journey is interwoven with a physical trek through Leith and Newhaven, where the film in its entirety was shot. He moves steadily from urban backstreet to leafy hedgerow, from deserted tram to gothic churchyard. 

Yet the use of anamorphic lenses isolates Jack against the wide-open space of each desolate backdrop. Other than the notes of the song, his only travelling companion is the viewer, who follows Jack at close quarters through the intimately framed shots of a handheld camera. Snippets of speech dotted throughout the video come across as monologue or voicemails, but never live conversation, and when other people do sparsely appear, they blend into the scenery. 

Kerr strains against this solitude, trailing his palm down a hedge as if trying to hold hands with it. But it is not until the video’s final scene that Jack finds something of substance. Whether that’s atonement, acceptance, or something else entirely is left compellingly unclear, but we are certain it’s what he’s been looking for throughout his North Edinburgh quest.