Be Kind, Rewind
Yes, it’s a Jack Black movie, with Mos Def costarring. However, it is more than that – it’s a film by Michel Gondry, who tamed Jim Carrey for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Jack’s unique brand of mania works for this film, but it does not turn into School of Rock. Instead, it is a surprisingly quiet and whimsical comedy about a ridiculous and unlikely series of events that turns into a nearly-as-likely miracle. Gondry directs it in his trademark, dreamlike fashion, adding to the charming je ne sais quoi. The opening act is the Big Ideas portion of the film, with Black spouting conspiracy theories and Danny Glover launching into reverent reminiscence about Fats Waller.
Be Kind Rewind is a failing VHS-only video store, anchoring a crumbling building in a crumbling neighborhood in our crumbling society, owned by Glover. Def and Black accidentally erase all their stock (don’t ask how). A jumbled sequence of events leads them into the Big Comedy portion of the movie, wherein they reshoot the Hollywood movies for pennies onto the blanked tapes so that they have something to rent. This could have turned into a one-joke movie, but for Gondry’s visualization skills. We get laughs more of delight than actual hilarity as our boys employ creative, low tech artifice to reproduce million of dollars of Hollywood magic. It’s a bit like the silent era, cobbling together effects like 1902’s Le Voyage Dans La Lune, using manual, simple tricks and trompe l’oeil (well, Gondry is French after all). We are awash in charm to see the spaceship from Kubrick’s 2001 created inside the drum of a broken old clothes dryer; the Lion King backdropped by corny 1970’s bedspreads, etc. Iconic movie moments flow past the camera, made of cardboard, tinsel, and the panicked good hearts of our leads.
As production of these “Sweded” films increase (to meet an unlikely but adorable demand), it becomes a parade of the film’s whimsical innovation and affectionately simplistic restaging of salient movie moments. The plot flags. The comedy is abandoned in favor of this terrific movie-lover’s experience, and we segue into the Big Heart portion of the film. Glover inevitably returns to catch our boys Sweding, and the film turns into a heartwarming yet not treacly love song to community, cooperation, neighborhood pride, Fats Waller, history, and the joys of watching a movie with other people.
Obstacles are met and overcome, delicate humor drifts down like dandelion seeds, building an emotional foundation for the climax, but the movie feels flatter than it should, considering everything. Too French? I enjoyed it like an art film more than as a comedy. After you see it, hop onto the movie’s website and see a Sweded version of the preview for Be Kind Rewind – a delicious, metafictional experience in its own right, but one that demands you see the movie first.
MPAA Rating PG-13
Release date 2/22/08
Time in minutes 101
Director Michel Gondry
Studio New Line Cinema
