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One anonymous blogger's headline pretty much sums up why some artists were born for public service advertising: "Darren Aronofsky Needs Just 30 Seconds to Turn You off Meth Forever." Anybody who's seen Requiem for a Dream understands Aronofsky seemingly effortless talent for scaring kids away from using drugs. You don't even need to watch the beautifully cinematic P.S.A.'s to picture the horrors of losing control — Black Swan did a fine job of that — but you should. (We've embedded all four at the bottom of this post.) "Aronofsky should make commercials more often," we thought as we opened a new tab to search Google. Oh look at that, he's made several others this year, for Yves St. Laurent and Revlon. Let't take a tour of his schizophrenic shortform subject matter.

We'll state the obvious: Aronofsky is not making cosmetics commercials purely in the name of art. Given that Chanel paid a reported $33 million for a 2004 spot starring Nicole Kidman for their No. 5 line, cosmetics commercials must be a gold-mine for directors trying to make a quick buck, and Aronofsky is probably getting paid plenty to sell perfume and mascara. Aronofsky didn't have to spare star power in his new advertising adventures, either. The two-minute long Yves St. Laurent commercial that came out in January starred Vincent Cassel, the mysterious actor who's always playing French villains in action movies, and features a score by Clint Mansell, a frequent Aronofsky collaborator and the guy who wrote the chilling theme to Requiem. Unsurprisingly, it's gorgeous and makes us want to buy Yves St. Laurent products.