MUBI

By all means this is not a great movie it’s not even really that good far fetched and wildly plotted and acted it seems more like a high concept idea from the 80’s or 90’s the thing this movie does have is ingenuity and imagination and a certain charm in spite of itself and that goes a long way I feel that this movie has a lot of heart and openness a sense of wonder that makes it both sweet and unfortunate that it could not be better. I realize a lot of youwill probably not agree with my review but that’s why it is mine

It sends a message on two fronts a showcase for the old school wonder of eclectic communities and the on going dismantling of them by gentrification. That are supposed to bring together but really in there lust of money and commerce are more heartless then anything and alienates the have from the have not’s setting up tow separate and not equal cultures. How business seems to weed out and pick on the little guy to destroy them for no real reason that they are in the way. A parody of the on-going big money blockbusters and how to somehow simplify The ingenuity of creating art and how simple things can make beautiful things. The way film can bring different characters together for a common goal and spellbind them put them in a trance.

Now does it really say all this probably not I’m just reading what I wish or hope it could mean. It touches on some of these ideas and I wish it could have been the movie that says all that with some laughs but it’s not

This film is on it’s own wavelength at times I really started to wonder if the two main characters were slow and/or really that doofy but as the movie moves along I realize they are just idealistic naive dreamers who don’t exactly know what the dream they want is but they strive for it in some kind of way a artist who never knew he had a artistic inclination in him a screw-up who wants to leave but finds he actually has a purpose and is good at something I’m probably giving this movie more respect then it deserves but it put a spell on me

The movie is meant to be a comedy but it seems like there are no jokes the few it does throw out just lay there or feel they were written by a dramatist trying to be funny.

Jack black seems like this was his year of transition while he tries to find himself his dramatic character in margot at the wedding his romantic lead in the holiday now here he seems to be trying to be goofy while inhabiting a real character it almost works but falls apart often mos def gives a low energy performance but at least has some substantial interest in his character

I am a admirer of director michel gondry and I believe his heart is in the right place but this comes off as a studio budgeted experiment for him more then a actual film which is fine. Your enjoyment depends on how experimental you like your films

The sweded films are not genius but inventive like wildly plotted youtube movies of the originals but this was written when that phenomena was just taking off

The 80’s feel is evident when this store still only provides vhs instead of dvd’s as the stylistic choices of fashion and ideals. The video-thrift store. The auto-shop with only one mechanic. I also love how the video store is filled with only new line cinema movies considering they are also the studio behind the movie why not have the upper hand right?

Think of it as a dingy thrift store fable.

It’s evident from his work that Michel Gondry loves filmmaking. His music videos never resort to CGI, scantily clad dancers or glossy sets — instead, he turns to lo-tech, creative solutions for great, quirky visual effects. There’s always a joyfulness that comes through in his work, and “Be Kind Rewind” is loaded with that love for cinema. It’s not quite Truffaut’s “Day for Night” but Gondry’s enthusiasm is infectious.

Like Son of Rambow, this is all about the spirit of the filmmaking process. All the inventiveness, hair-splitting decisions, tensions between cast and crew, and that one occasional spark of genius that brings it all together is represented in entertaining fashion. And of course, Gondry is no stranger to the process and he unquestionably understands what it takes to make a film. Bringing together an unlikely duo in Black and Mos Def, the several classics they decide to “swede” (ie: 2001) are very creative in craftsmanship and I couldn’t help but admire some of the ideas. You could really use some of these ideas to make your own movies work on shoestring budgets: aspiring filmmakers take note.

Thankfully, Michel Gondry has once again taken his warped mind and melded together a piece of work that is personal and touching, without ever going too far into sentimentality. For all of you who saw the trailer and think that either it will take a one-note joke and beat it to the ground or be out-loud funny at all turns, don’t bother watching because it is neither. I only wish I could have told the four 16-year old girls in front of me who were constantly on their cell phones, talking, making a ruckus as they went to the bathroom halfway through, and at the end yelled out “finally.” Maybe the mistake was bringing it to a Regal and not letting it lie in its rightful home of a Dipson. You will not get mainstream laughs or stellar acting; instead we are shown a whole lot of heart and compassion for the people you love, the town you call home, and the imagination and knowledge that you can make a difference, no matter how small. Be Kind Rewind is a feel-good film that wears its creativity and craft blatantly on the screen. Gondry tells the tale of two men hand-creating movies by molding his own, stamped throughout with his personal fingerprints blemishing each frame.

I could go the easy route and say that the acting was kind of atrocious, but I won’t because I really feel the amateurish quality was deliberate. Between Mos Def, (whom I love as an actor), mumbling, Danny Glover sounding as though his teeth were falling out, and Mia Farrow acting so over the top happy with broad expressions running the gamut, the cast is as unpolished as the “sweded” films they are shooting. Something about that feel works perfectly, though, and I don’t think the movie would have been as successful if they all were pristine. Each plays their part to perfection and even Jack Black reins it in to portray a fully fleshed character and not a caricature as he is used to. Sure you get his manic comedy at times, but just his reaction at the end proves he was into this film completely and was willing to do what was needed for it to succeed. All the supporting roles were great as well with brilliant turns from Melonie Diaz and Irv Gooch (as Wilson) along with Marcus Carl Franklin playing an actual boy, something that was a departure from his very adult portrayal of Bob Dylan in I’m Not There.

But why am I talking about the acting? That is the least of my memories from this film. Gondry is a true genius in the definition of the word. The way he creates set pieces and allows for each erased VHS to be recreated is astonishing. When we are shown a montage of the crew filming multiple stories at once, the true inventiveness comes in. Going from 2001 to Umbrellas of Cherbourg to Men in Black, we are given a brief glimpse of the setup that is slowly turned into the film. Watching a crank with numerous cars spinning while Mos Def and Black are upside in a car looks absolutely absurd until the title flashes on the bottom and you realize it is the tunnel scene of MiB, just an amazing transition. Every second is laced with creativity from a skewed camera angle showing Black slide down a stair banister to appear like a fire poll, the fake depth of field to show Black as King Kong grabbing Diaz, to the laughably perfect mat of a city laying on the ground and shot from above to make it look as though characters are falling to their death off a building. Gondry might have single-handedly created a phenomenon that will be mimicked and YouTubed in the very near future. Heck, he even “sweded” his own trailer to rake up some added press. “Sweded” of course being the term to describe the art of recreating movies to their personalized, condensed format. I’ll buy the DVD just to see the full versions, as I am sure they will be included, (how could they not?).

There is an underlying story of course, a race against time to try and save the video store from demolition—complete with an FBI lawsuit of copyright infringement—but all that takes a very far backseat to the human story at the front. The way these films bring the rundown, low-income city together, as a community, is heart-warming and a big payoff for the film. Credit Gondry for knowing what he was doing too. He shows Ghostbusters being filmed, but then only snippets of the rest so as not to ruin the joke. When the group finally decides to shoot an original story, we are still intrigued by the workmanship that goes into the process because we have not yet been bored by it from before. And of course, he films the finale the only way he could have. As an audience, it really doesn’t matter what the end product is; it’s the reactions of those watching that counts. To see the laughs and the tears on the faces of all the people who helped create their masterpiece is the true endgame that I wanted to see. You won’t experience a more charming and original film, with enough heart to warm those in it and those outside in the theatre watching, anytime soon.