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Just reading a brief synopsis got me fairly hyped for Be Kind Rewind. The film was written and directed by Michel Gondry, who directed my favourite movie in the last five years, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, so it was a no-brainer that this would be a movie I would want to see. But unfortunately, the idea seemed to be a whole lot better than the final product.

Mike (Mos Def) works at an aging video rental story in New Jersey run by Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover). Despite the advent of DVD, the store only carries VHS tapes, and rents them to local customers at a fee far cheaper than the usual rental store. The store is apparently a landmark, so Mr. Fletcher does not want to give into local developers looking to turn the block into a nice piece of real estate. He leaves Mike in charge for a few days, but leaves specific instructions for him to not his friend Jerry (Jack Black) into the store. He does, and after a rather amusing accident, Jerry manages to erase all of the tapes in the store. To help cover this up, Mike and Jerry begin to film their own versions of the films.

It sounds creative on paper, but Be Kind Rewind is too muddled in subplots to really take advantage of its outrageous idea. The entire landmark dispute becomes rather boring and annoying right after it is mentioned, and the frequent mention of jazz musician Fats Waller loses its sentimental and nostalgic touch far too early on in the film. It just lacks the focus of Eternal Sunshine, and lacks the daring scope of The Science of Sleep, another film by Gondry. While Sleep was not all that great either, it seems to have had a much better grip on the point of the movie than Rewind does. It mopes around far too much, and I found myself more bored than I ever thought I would be watching it. I wanted to be interested, but the film did not make for many interesting moments. It has a sense of purpose and clearly knows what it wants to accomplish, but allowing it to seems to be an issue the film can never overcome.

One of these reasons may be the lack of depth in the characters. We learn very little about Mike or Jerry, and their pasts and motivations seem to never come up. We just know the basics, and that seems to be enough. Ditto for Mr. Fletcher, the frequent customer Miss Falewicz (Mia Farrow) and Alma (Melonie Diaz), who seems to get thrown into the mix rather randomly half way through the film, and never seems to fully materialize as anything other than being a female in a primarily male dominated main cast. Gondry clearly has a point for these characters to be here interacting (and a couple of curious supporting characters like Irv Gooch's Wilson, who lend the film a lot of its laughs), but he does not seem to want to make them be anything more than near one-dimensional cut-outs. I do not want to make them seem as simplistic as that, but more often than not, I really found myself not seeing anything other than that.

When the film actually gets to its key drawing point, the re-filming of the VHS movies (or sweding as the film refers to it as), it does bring in a lot of that creative depth Gondry is known for. Using many different angles and stylistic devices, Gondry remakes specific scenes out of these movies with ease, and brings a lot of humour to them as well. Watching Def and Black redo Ghostbusters is absolutely hysterical, as is their redoing of Driving Miss Daisy, King Kong, We Were Kings and 2001: A Space Odyssey. But unfortunately, these scenes are really short and sweet, and many of them are never lingered on. Frequently, they are only mere seconds long before the next sweded movie scene comes in. At one point, there is just a scrolling list of movies that are being redone, but barely any are shown on screen. It is a little disappointing, but I did really like the footage that is shown.

While the film's storyline is a little winded, and the character development is a little off, the actors themselves do really well.

Def continues to impress, and helps carry this film from beginning to end. I am never really impressed with his work, but he seems to have a knack for making his characters enjoyable and very human in their design. He just seems to have that natural acting talent that every young actor tries to have, but never can truly create for themselves. Even in its most boring sections, Def delivers a great performance that is insightful and more introspective of what the film could have been had Gondry put more effort into it.

The same goes for Black, who continues to redefine himself as an actor. On one hand, he does his usual screwball schtick to its finest degree, and gets plenty of laughs for it. But on the other, he really develops his dramatic side, one that is seen only in the likes of King Kong (where his performance is not nearly as well liked as I think it is) and pretentious fare like Margot at the Wedding (which I doubt many people will ever attempt to see). It is a fine balance, and Black walks it perfectly throughout the film, and gives a solid performance for one of the film's most undefined characters. Kudos to him for really making something of it.

While the rest of the supporting cast does fairly well for themselves, none ever match the charisma or the chemistry that Def and Black share. And in a film that is disappointing already, that makes it all the more worse.

7/10.

Michel Gondry is a very talented filmmaker especially when it comes to visuals. His music videos and films go beyond simple video marvels into a world of simple visual trickery. This is something Gondry is very good at. Furthermore, he has a do it yourself mantra when it comes to filmaking. He's not into the marvels of CGI. He's more into what you can do without it.

But it takes a little more than visual trickery to make a film a success. Be Kind Rewind is a prime example. The film starts off well enough. Mos Def helps run a video store owned by Danny Glover's character. The store is probably one of the last remaining stores catering to VHS. Jack Black is Mos Def's left of center friend who works at an electrical plant. Through some plan to sabotage the plant, he becomes magnetic, erasing all the tapes.

Our heroes are forced to re-record the movies and do it through a process called "sweding," producing 10-15 minute versions of the film, using a wide array of do it yourself techniques that Gondry himself has utilized in his work. An example is a simple trick where filming through a fan makes the film look old. All of this is fun. The way the guys try to truncate the film's stories into a little time or their lack of knowledge regarding some films like Driving Miss Daisy. the crude effects are fun and are prime examples of why we love Michel Gondry.

The downside to the film is the script, penned by Gondry. Clearly, the film is built around the sweded films. But I was starting to think that watching the sweded films would've been more fun than watching Be Kind Rewind itself. Gondry never fully fleshes out his characters or resolves some of the subplots. The visuals are fun, but when Gondry's forced to wrap up the movie, it becomes a little sporadic and we start to realize the the film doesn't go much beyond its rich concept.

There is something great to take away from this film. And while I have some reservations about the film, my recommendation for the film is based on Gondry's filmaking vision. That is to say, there is clearly a joy of filmaking associated with Gondry that will have me continue to look forward to his work. If you're not sure what I mean, take a look at his promotional materials or at his other short films. The man loves filmaking and has fun with this movie. However, I'd recommend he build an alliance with some good screenwriters that would help his visions become fully realized, and not just good natured diversions, as this film is.

'Be Kind Rewind' has already become one of my favourite films of the year. It's funny. It's charming. It's nostalgic. It's awkward. It's unique and it's moving. The entrance of DVDs to our lives have lead to the rapid extinction of video cassettes but does one remember the days of renting, collecting and watching those big tapes? Rewinding them and forwarding them? Something small but one that I find fascinating. While 'Be Kind Rewind' pays respect to that generation, it's also a wonderful tribute to film-making in general. All the classic movies and blockbusters this film refers to are some of the most memorable movies that played during the VHS days and, in a way, 'Be Kind Rewind' is a superb homage to those films. Just watch all the sweded 'refilming' of, for example, 'Driving Miss Daisy' with Danny Glover and Mia Farrow, 'Ghostbusters' and 'Rush Hour 2' with Jack Black and Mos Def...and so many more hilarious surprises. 'Be Kind Rewind' also explores what it is about cinema that fascinate the ordinary man.

Gondry's writing is just as great as his direction. Everything fits together excellently. The comedy and drama blend smoothly. Michel Gondry's screenplay is impeccable. The dialogues are laugh out loud and never out of place. The characters are genuinely heartwarming, goofy and lovable.

The performances are heartfelt and fantastic. A wacky Jack Black, an endearing Mia Farrow (who's a science fiction fan), a very impressive Mos Def (I was very impressed by his comic timing), a humbly naive Danny Glover, a vivacious Melonie Diaz, Sigourney Weaver as an inspector in charge (with a touch of comedy) and many more talented actors make a terrific ensemble.

Gondry has tackled a lot of themes like a strong sense of community, people's love for movies, people being accustomed to old technology (as a result to which they sometimes have difficulty moving on to more updated sources), reviving loved artists who have vanished into oblivion and the overall sense of doing something great together (like the last movie on Fat Waller's life). He tells the story skillfully. I liked that it ended on a bittersweet note but somewhat ambiguously. I was having so much fun and laughing out loud so many times that I didn't even care if it bothered other people.

Many people seem to have trashed this movie because it wasn't like 'Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind'. I'd like to tell those people to get over it. How can people even begin to compare too totally different films and then call one of them trash for not being like the other? I love both movies and to me, with 'Be Kind Rewind' Gondry proves to be a versatile director and my appreciation for him as a filmmaker has only increased.

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.

The trailer really said it all about this film, and the film delivers everything it promises! What a great concept and how great a story we got from Gondry this time. Very accessible (unlike Science of Sleep) and entertaining from beginning to end. Jack Black and Mos Def play their parts well and the aforementioned is actually funny in this one, unlike a lot of his recent work. At the core of it all, Be Kind Rewind tells a great story about how you don't really need high-tech equipment to make movies. Who needs film-school when you've got your friends and a cheap camera?

I really enjoyed this film.