Kim's Video

Saw this at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival

"Kim's Video" is a documentary that follows trail of beloved video store films from New York City to Sicily. The history of Kim's Video is pretty interesting especially those who love collecting physical media. Directed by David Redmon and Ashley Sabin, while the film never feels boring, it's unfortunate the documentary goes all over the place.

The presentation is pretty good and there are pretty good archival footages used showing the history of Kim's Video and how it's legacy has changed over the years. There are interviews from participants that were very interesting to listen and observe. However, the documentary gets lost as the film tends to focus way too much on the personals side of the main filmmaker rather than focusing on the history and facts behind Kim's Video.

It's understandable where the filmmakers are trying to approach but the main structure doesn't feel focused. It goes from an documentary filled with facts and historical ideas to an personal journey that feels a bit full of itself and not self-aware. "Kim's Video" was never boring but it was annoying to see the uneven structure of the documentary and discussions that felt a little unsatisfied.

Overall, it's not bad but it's pretty underwhelming.

Rating: C+

This was overall an enjoyable documentary on Kim's Video Store and the aftermath of finding a home for the collection. The story is fairly straightforward with a few twists but in the end it is nice to see things back as they should be. I am thankful for people in this world that value history and culture that stems from it even if it is seedy and the the overlooked story is sometimes the most interesting.

Mr. Kim is an interesting fella. Big heart and love of film, raided by FBI on multiple occassions, possible cia asset during the Korean War, and generous with his life and money. I would have enjoyed a bit more on him than the tertiary minutes we get, but I respect his privacy and need for a life not defined by video tapes and late fees (You should have nailed the Coen bros on that honestly. They had plenty of money, gave zero craps about helping out, and played facetious whenever possible about it. Lost a lot of respect for them instantly).

The only mar on this was the story teller. I appreciate the efforts to recover the collection and the movie in general but it ain't always about you. Proving he has at least consumed the Criterion collection and claiming the movies have voices that call to him, it sounds like someone who is trying to emulate having a soul without understanding what a soul is and why things feel. It was super awkward having him wander around Salemi, not speaking Italian or even able to use translate, pointing cameras in locals faces while acting like a non verbal on spectrum weirdo, breaking into buildings and mixing spanish with Italian (Jeebus dude they are romance languages and very similar in basal structure unlike French or Portuguese you should be able to understand and speak 6 words from all of your Fellini fests lol). I loved the Giorgio Moroder loving musician that did film music, he was a hoot. Such a wonderful modernly classic sound. UNLIKE THE SOUNDTRACK which was knobbish dubstep. I guess either the filmmaker made it or it was free because it did not fit and only helped the party scene in which the heist was set. Overall a cool story and thankful of what was done to preserve the collection for generations to come. Back when youtube was shelves and you had to go and get it lol.

The actual story of Mr Kim and how this eclectic film collection ended up in a sleepy Sicilian village is fairly interesting, but the director/narrator is grating and had to insert himself as a major part of this documentary. His voice just keeps droning on, name-dropping movies where ever possible. To be honest, the guy made me think of a real life Abed from community (I know, now I had to go and drop a pop culture reference myself) , just less charming. I can see this aspect being a major turn off for a lot of people so I could not recommend this to anyone but people with a real niche interest in this kind of thing.

I just saw it at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and I have this magnificent feeling when I experience something so overwhelming. I want to rate it because it s a pity this movie to have so mediocre ratings and to help with my comment other people that love movies to go ant see it.

It s an hommage to the cinema. The story is so unbelievable. Besides that, the directors did a fantastic job. There was not just a single moment of boredom. There were moments that all the cinema laughed. One of the best documentaries I have ever seen and I see a lot. In my hometown Thessaloniki festival I saw 40. Go see it. Thank me later 😎

I'm not from New York. Each city had one of these cult-service video stores. My city had Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee, which closed permanently during Covid with rumors that Quentin Tarantino actually bought out the archive, presumably to avoid what happened with Kim's. Before the internet these stores were essential for students of film and those in seek of entertainment outside the restrictive limits of Blockbuster. With fond memories of the days of video rentals, I got emotionally invested in the fate of Kim's videos and watched until the very end to see what happened to the artifacts so beloved by so many people. Folks too young to have known anything other than the endless resources of streaming and the internet might not understand...