Daft Punk video for ‘Da Funk’ gets remastered and re-released

Although Daft Punk announced they were hanging up their helmets back in February of 2021, the duo of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have continued to excite and engage fans with an onslaught of archival footage and reissues of past content.  Following up on the release of a 25th year anniversary edition of their iconic album, Homework, and the upcoming Homework (Remixes) release later this month, the duo have decided to give one of their most iconic music videos a fresh remaster.

Originally released in 1997, the Spike Jonze directed video is titled Big City Nights and features a life sized dog named Charles who walks with a crutch and carries a large boombox around New York City, blasting the single from the stereo.  Throughout the video, Charles is confronted with a series of obstacles and moments of being ostracized from the community around him.  Early in the video, he has two young kids mock him, next up, he looks to take a poll on the neighborhood only to be told that having only lived there for a month, he doesn’t qualify for the survey.  The video continues with Charles running into a neighbor from his childhood, Beatrice, played by actress Catherine Kellner, a pretty blonde woman shopping in a small convenience.  While they agree to head downtown to get dinner, Charles is unable to board the bus Beatrice takes because of its no radio policy.  The bus takes off with Beatrice on it, shouting to Charles, while he looks on from the curb before walking away.  Although the video seems to offer many interpretations, Thomas Bangalter revealed the opposite at the time:

There’s no story. It is just a man-dog walking with a ghetto blaster in New York. The rest is not meant to say anything. People are trying to explain it: Is it about human tolerance? Integration? Urbanism? There’s really no message. There will be a sequel someday

Check out the remastered clip below as Daft Punk continue to share content from the vaults as fans everywhere celebrate 25 years of Homework.

Image Credit: DFree / Shutterstock.com