[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJlU_9Vyvqs[/youtube]

Last month, we learned that award winning director Darren Aronofsky (best known for the films Black Swan, The Wrestler, and Requiem For A Dream) would be filming a music video for a song off of Lou Reed and Metallica’s Lulu. And this past Saturday (December 3), Aronofsky’s video for “The View” (though earlier reports had stated the song was going to be “Iced Honey”) premiered on IFC’s website.

Like much of Aronofsky’s work, it’s deceptively simple at first – an almost straight-ahead performance video, shot in black and white. In fact, the video bears more than a passing similarity to Aronofsky’s first film, Pi,which was also shot in black and white, combined with the cinema verite style of The Wrestler. Starting out with the band arriving and an even creepier than normal looking Lou Reed, the band then perform the song onstage. However, in true Aronofsky style, the images get more distorted and disjointed as the video goes on. While it’s likely not going to bring any converts over to Lulu, it will at least significantly up the number of aspiring film students that are exposed to Lulu. And what quite possibly might be the best thing said about it is that it cuts the song down to under four minutes.

You can watch Metallica and Lou Reed’s video for “The View,” as directed by Darren Aronofsky, above.