Be Kind Rewind (2008)
Directed by Michel Gondry
***1/2 (or 3/4?)
Childlike
C. S. Lewis once wrote, 'The process of growing up is to be valued for what we gain, not for what we lose. Not to acquire a taste for the realistic is childish in a bad sense; to have lost the taste for marvels and adventures is no more a matter for congratulations than losing our teeth, our hair, our palate, and finally our hopes.' Michel Gondry has made only three films, but already he's proved himself an adult who takes great care not to lose his childlike sense of wonder, imagination and the marvelous. His music videos deal in the clever, the unexpected, and sometimes the non sequitur. Eternal Sunshine was a magical masterpiece of relationship psychology. The Science of Sleep dove into the weird world of dreams and love. Be Kind Rewind, Gondry's latest, champions community and the importance of originality alongside the time-tested.
Clever
Be Kind Rewind is a video rental store on its way out. The rest of the world has switched to DVD, so customers here are few. Even more threatening is an ultimatum from the city's building authorities: fix up or get torn down.
Just when things seem their worst, the store's nerdy employee Jerry (played with uptight abandon by Jack Black) gets himself shocked at the local power plant, in a scene reminiscent of Back to the Future. His next trip to Be Kind Rewind results in a store filled with blank videos. Mike (the hilariously low-key Mos Def) panics, because he's only been given charge of the store while owner Elroy Fletcher (Danny Glover) was out of town. What to do?
Communal
Fortunately for them — and for us — Mike and Jerry don't quit
easily. Since their only real customer is Miss Falewicz (the always fun
Mia Farrow), and since she's never actually seen the films she's asking
for . . . why not shoot the films from scratch? That's at least the
harebrained idea Mike and Jerry come up with.
Soon enough, they're shooting Ghostbusters for one customer, and Rush Hour 2 for another. And to their shock, the community loves these new "sweded" versions, better than the originals! By the time Mr. Fletcher has returned, the lines are stretching down the street and customers are shelling out $20 per swede.
Gondry's film has a charming calmness to it, from the very beginning. This is laid-back life, on the order of Casablanca or Do the Right Thing. Throughout, scenes that could have been cheesy are endearing instead. Be Kind Rewind, instead of falling off the communal map, becomes an integral part of revitalizing the world around itself. By the film's close, Gondry has transported us all into a magical, childlike world where everything is at peace. Though it may not bowl you over with Zemeckian special effects — everything in Michel's movies is handmade — this is probably his most timeless, classic film to date.
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