Synopsis

Beck inhabits a topsy-turvy world where ordinary routines unfold in impossible places. He works at a desk on a beach while a deck chair waits inside his office, then wanders through a city where objects and actions refuse to obey normal logic. His shadow walks ahead and drags him along the pavement, while scenes from A Life Less Ordinary appear like fragments of memory or fantasy. The video eventually folds into the film itself, blurring the boundary between Beck's strange reality and the movie he is watching.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Deadweight" was released in 1997 as the lead single from the soundtrack to Danny Boyle's film A Life Less Ordinary. The video uses footage of Ewan McGregor, Cameron Diaz, Holly Hunter, and Stanley Tucci from the movie.

• The video grew out of a short visual experiment made for Beck before a full production had been formally arranged. Beck later recalled being impressed that the filmmaker had created and sent him the test without any commitment attached.

• One of the video's simplest illusions involves Beck apparently following his own shoes. The shoes were attached to his feet with fishing wire, Beck walked backward, and the footage was reversed.

• The beach-office reversal gives the song's title a visual dimension: Beck is shown working in a place associated with leisure, while relaxing in the setting associated with work.

• The image of Beck being pulled along by his walking shadow directly echoes the lyric about being dragged by the music, turning an abstract feeling into a physical gag.

• "Deadweight" was later included among the bonus tracks and video material associated with the deluxe edition of Odelay, helping reconnect the soundtrack single with Beck's best-known mid-1990s period.