Be Kind Rewind

I missed this film at Sundance, caught it as soon as possible, and I wasn't disappointed. Despite being privy to the exhaustive fine-tuning of an indie film with an improvised feel, watching "Be Kind" I could absolutely believe it came together as quickly and spontaneously as the snippets of "sweded" films. This was part of its charm and I think Gondry's intention.

All the actors were engaging, and genuine heartfelt emotion - most definitely by the surprising, naturally pitch-perfect Mos Def - transcended the dialog, plot points and general wackiness.

The Fats Waller thread was just random enough and very skillfully and satisfyingly woven into the story from beginning to end. This and many other details - including touches like lovely Mia Farrow's curiosity about supernatural films and Sigourney Weaver's brief take-charge turn - convinced me that Gondry put quite a bit of thought and skill into perfecting the film's endearing awkwardness. It might not be to everybody's taste, but I think it was a great idea, executed and seasoned just right.

This is a silly but harmless fun piece of fluff, guaranteed to put some smiles on your face and give you somewhat of a feel-good feeling when it's over. I'm sure that was the intent, and very little more. It wasn't made to astound anyone or provide huge laughs. Yet, it has a lot of charm and subtle humor.

It's a ludicrous story, so you just can't take anything seriously. The premise is unique: two guys converting a dying video rental store into a success by taking blank tapes of famous movies and making their own 20-minute versions! The new "movies" are so bad, they're good and the neighborhood starts making requests and renting the new "sweded" movies like hotcakes. Goofy? Sure. Tons of plot holes? You bet......but a nice movie.

The more films you know, beginning with "Ghostbusters," the more you'll enjoy this as the guys make these cheap knock-offs on budgets of about a hundred bucks! In addition, Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover and Mia Farrow were all fun to watch.

It's no award-winner, but you could do a lot worse.

This is the latest brainchild of Michel Gondry the one time video maker turned director of 'Eternal Sunshine..' and 'The Science of Sleep' and once again there's a visual feast on offer. On many levels this is just a clever comedy but on many others its much more than that, it is a homage to film-making as a whole, the death of artistry in the face of technology, the sense of community that cinemas can bring in a world where cinema is struggling against the internet and apathy. Jack Black and Mos Def play at odds friends who have an outlet running the local video store 'Be Kind Rewind', with the huge DVD emporium down the road the business is struggling and in danger of being pulled down to make way for condos. After a freak accident wipes all the tapes in the shop the pair decide to remake all the films rather than get caught and lose the shop and this then is where Gondry et al step up to the mark and let their imaginations run wild with hilarious consequences. The first film they make is 'Ghostbusters' and it sets the premises of what is to come as they do their own versions of 'Robocop, Lion King, Rush Hour 2 and Men in Black to name but a few. Black and Def play off each other really well but it's the ingenuity in the sets and lo-fi costumes that make all these little twenty minute 'Swedes' (The tapes are described as having come from Sweden as an excuse for higher rental fees and longer wait times) brilliantly funny. They are even available to watch online and you're also encouraged to make your own! The story is for want of a better word silly and my only criticism I have is that Gondry tends to be too whimsical and over idealistic at times but that said he is portraying a fantasy world where he can play like a child with bits of old rubbish and sticky back plastic and come up with stunning arty creations that shine on screen. With so much subject matter to work with Gondry picks films that he is sure most people will have seen, although I hadn't seen 'Rush Hour 2' and so struggled to find all of that section funny, so on the off chance you haven't seen any of the films being Sweded you may wonder what the hell is going on. Be Kind.. is not a new story or even a new idea but it has new things to say about the state of the industry, copyright law and ownership that hide subtly below the comedy and it is so full of visual ideas it's a film you could quite easily watch again. Not as dark as 'Eternal Sunshine' and slightly better than 'Science of Sleep' Gondry is proving he can do aesthetically great lo-fi films without the lure of CGI or the Hollywood big budget. Like the war between VHS tapes and DVDs Gondry is taking on the big boys and coming out relatively unscathed.

French film-making has been bankrupt for decades.

Oh, we've had "Amelie," and that's great, but in general, the ideas of reflection and cinematic exposure in French hands have been about as successful as the architecture of the Pompidou Center is engaging. Even the art therein, as typified by Niki de Saint-Phalle, is wan.

But these ideas have always had promise, and combined with the American invention of noir have more or less become embedded in everyday film. There isn't a better example than Michel Gondry. He was an ordinary drummer in an ordinary band until making that band's videos. And then Bjork's. And then Kaufman films, and then an Oscar. Finally, perhaps the highest honor for a creative mind: to be named artist in residence at MIT.

Here is the product of that tenure.

Its a film with three distinct parts. These parts are not well integrated, I think by design, and that will allow newspaper and internet reviewers pretending to be critics to give it bad marks. And that will be too bad. In my city, this was showing in one theater, for one late showing per day.

The first part of the film is a rather conventional Jack Black-centric comedy. It involves his battle with the massive power plant next to the junkyard in which he lives. Its funny in what is already a conventional juvenile style. It however has one of the best sight gags in recent memory: Black shows up one day in camouflage to convince the Mos Def (even the name is a joke) character to participate in an assault on the plant. Later, he in (cameo as well) and Jack do climb the fence surrounding the plant. But they are interrupted by the cops and freeze, their cameo perfectly matching where they happen to be standing, complete with partial signage. That one joke is worth your six bucks.

The middle section has the two taping ad hoc versions of the movies in the store. Its a wholly different sort of humor, goofing on the folding mechanism I note so often in my comments. These are homemade movies within a homemade movie. Each follows Ted's law in being precisely as abstract (which in this case includes the offhand homemadeness) as the movie in which it exists. Some of this is really good, and to keep it funny, the pace increases phenomenally until it would take many viewings to get the jokes.

The final section is a third film, whose effectiveness depends on the first two. Its sweet, deep and very affecting. You will end up crying as I did. They are unable to continue making "Sweded" versions of movies because of the evil studios, who surely are moving to become as strong as possible in fighting imagination. So they make a "new" movie, a fiction about Fats Waller. You will have seen parts of this at the beginning of the film, and there's no mistake that this is the emotional center of the project — and why Danny Glover was required.

Its in the tradition of a Rooney-Garland "let's have a show" movie, involving the entire neighborhood. And it is as sweet and endearing as can be. Extremely post-racist and human, unashamedly using children where they mean something. And celebrating the sort of random "make up anything" fun that's at the soul of Waller's music. If you know Swedish films, even the term is a massive joke.

This is a gem. If you like film, and as a result are in danger of jaded watching, of analytical hell, this will help you escape. It could be one of the two best films you will see this year.

Oh, and after you see it. Not before, after, you really must see the trailer by Gondry where he "Swedes" his own film, replacing the Black and Def characters — in fact every character — with himself.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Michel Gondry's new film is NO "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", but it's better than "The Science of Sleep" and doesn't deserve the negative reviews it's been getting. Without Charlie Kaufman writing, Gondry's script might be a little less original, but his visual creativity (no one else knows how to make art out of cardboard boxes like him!) and passion for his story makes "Be Kind Rewind" some kind of special.

Mos Def and Jack Black work at Danny Glover's video store and, after Black gets "magnetized", he unintentionally turns every tape in the store blank. They have the brilliant idea of remaking the customers' favorite movies (from "Driving Miss Daisy" to "Last Tango in Paris"), and they suddenly become the local sensation. Some moments are very funny, others not so much, but this is not supposed to be a Farrelly Bros. kind of flick. With a simple but very compelling idea, Gondry created a story about people's love for movies, the sense of community, the compulsion for memories, the oblivion of old-time artists (the Fats Waller subplot) and old-fashioned technology (should Glover finally adhere to DVDs?). Gondry said in an interview: "I am not against modern things. I use technology, but what I am against is when the technology creates a system that makes you believe you need to use it". I couldn't agree more. By the end, even though not being a masterpiece like "Eternal Sunshine", "Be Kind Rewind" leaves you with the bittersweet feeling of other movies about our love for film-making, more notably "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (by the way, Mia Farrow plays the video store's most loyal customer) and "Cinema Paradiso". Definitely worth seeing. 8/10.