Watch Lana Del Rey’s Fairly Insane 27-Minute Short Film, ‘Tropico’
There's a unicorn in it.
“Elvis is my daddy, Marilyn’s my mother, Jesus is my bestest friend,” sings Lana Del Rey, as she grinds with some skinny dude in the Garden Of Eden, while dead John Wayne and a unicorn watch on creepily.
So begins Del Rey’s fairly insane 27-minute short film Tropico, which had its premiere screening in Los Angeles overnight. “I really just wanted us all to be together so I could try and visually close out my chapter before I release the new record, Ultraviolence,” the singer told the gathered audience, who were probably high as kites by the time the screening ended.
Directed by Anthony Mandler and featuring the songs ‘Body Electric’, ‘Gods And Monsters’ and ‘Bel Air’ from her Paradise EP, the film is set within three distinct backdrops: the biblical Garden Of Eden; a seedy LA strip club and cholo gang life (where Del Rey pauses to recite Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’); and some sun-drenched pristine countryside, which may or may not be heaven (it kinda looks like the Hunter Valley).
Watch the whole thing below; maybe don’t operate heavy machinery while you do so.