Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageBe Kind Rewind (2008)
Director: Michel Gondry
Movie review
From Time Out London
French celluloid sorcerer Michel Gondry delivers his most playful, accessible and subtextually sparkling slice of bespoke whimsy to date in the follow-up to his stifling 2005 quirk mire, ‘The Science of Sleep’.
This time, he accompanies us on the Capra-esque journey of highly-strung VHS rental shop clerk, Mike (Mos Def) and his skittish, mildly unhinged mechanic buddy Jerry (Jack Black) as they are forced – via myriad helter-skelter plot machinations – to locate the journeyman director deep inside them and remake all the films in the store when they are inadvertently erased. In doing so, they manage to convert the present-day dead-end town of Passaic, New Jersey into a teeming, ramshackle film lot where customised (or ‘Sweded’) versions of ’80s popcorn classics such as ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ are rolled out at a dizzying rate and perform a roaring trade.
On paper, it sounds eccentric, but this is all part of Gondry’s vision. He presents us with a film whose simple structure could have tripped from the tongue of any vacuous pony-tailed studio exec (a community coming together to save a dilapidated video shop? It could only have come from the ’80s!).But Gondry uses this premise to flip open the ribcage of cinema and allow us to peruse its blood, bones and sinew, and really see how they flow, fit and flex into a glorious whole.
The magnitude of Gondry’s visual ingenuity is consistently jaw-dropping: with the aid of some washing machine innards and a white jump suit, he manages to reduce the iconic rotating space station scene from ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ to a kind of cinematic primordial ooze, at once presenting the infinite potential of the camera to create, subvert and renew reality while also screaming, ‘Yes, you can do this too!’
Because this is a film in thrall to the fact that we have camera phones, YouTube and iMovie at our fingertips, and that there are people who go out there and make movies – just for the hell of it. But the joyful process of filmmaking is not its sole concern: there’s also a fondness for archaic technology (you could even read it as a clarion call to a generation weened on in-built obsolescence) to the point that CGI is rejected in favour of in-camera effects which lend the film a ragged visual energy comparable to the ’80s classics to which it pays homage.
In the end, though, it’s this total respect for its ironic source material which has enabled Gondry to achieve his greatest coup. In a postmodern rendering of the archetypal ’80s schmaltz finale, the director picks at our heartstrings like a cigar-box banjo, assembling the entire town together to watch Mike and Jerry’s fictitious biopic of local jazz legend Fats Waller in what must be one of the most nakedly romantic salutes to the restorative power of cinema since the ‘montage of kisses’ scene from ‘Cinema Paradiso’. It’s an awesomely simple and powerful moment, echoed by an earlier declamation from Mia Farrow’s doddery Mrs Falewicz as she enjoys one of Mike and Jerry’s remakes: ‘A toast to movies with heart and soul!’ Hear hear!
Author: David Jenkins
Time Out London Issue 1957: Feb 20 to 26
User reviews of this film
-
- sarah said...
- Posted on Apr 07 2008 19:18 who are the donkey brains that write these time out reviews? this film was dull, ive never felt so desperate for a film to end and i felt a great sense of acievement for not falling asleep. Saying that, I wasted 3 hours of my life for this naf rubbish-boo!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- dee n loz said...
- Posted on Apr 06 2008 10:47 this film was the worst movie we have ever seen in our entire lifes. it was soo borin and if we were you do not go and see it! omg were famous!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- tony said...
- Posted on Apr 05 2008 22:38 not great really
- Report as inappropriate
-
- R U Mad said...
- Posted on Mar 28 2008 17:57 This film is not slapstick Jack Black, so if that's what you are expecting you're in for a dissapointment - that being said, it is brilliant. Way beyond some simpler examples of his work, this film is thoughtful, extremely human and touching. I loved it....
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Mii-Chan said...
- Posted on Mar 26 2008 22:19 I....hated this film. Me and my friend ahd heard good reviews about it, but to be honest everyone in the theater where I watched it were talking amongst themselves after the first 20 minutes. Started crap, ended even worse, and there was few funny moments....I can't believe people actually are reccmmending this, However, I would go if you have money to spare to make your own judgement; but go with friends in case you get bored.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- adam said...
- Posted on Mar 26 2008 20:51 omg it waz a mint film lol not likly why would you what to wach a film like this it is so boring i would have saved my money if i knew it was going to be this bad i will never go and see this film ever again
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Charlie said...
- Posted on Mar 25 2008 16:09 brilliant film, go see it
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Maggie said...
- Posted on Mar 25 2008 16:08 If you're wanting to see this film but are at all put off by the reviews here, I would advise to use your own judgement. I was put off, but went anyway, and it's a brilliant film.
- Report as inappropriate
-
- chinners said...
- Posted on Mar 24 2008 18:23 bad!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- jiron said...
- Posted on Mar 24 2008 17:53 worst movie EVER
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Rach said...
-
Posted on Mar 23 2008 13:15
Some funny moments but the storyline was a bit strange.
Jack Black was brilliant in this. - Report as inappropriate
-
- o d on said...
- Posted on Mar 20 2008 19:27 clearly jack black has life in him yet this is a classic laugh a second whirlwind of a comedy and thos who find it unfunny are devoid of any sense of humour or 50+ without hearing or sight A MUST see for those jack blac fanatics i loved it keep it up!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- lauren said...
- Posted on Mar 19 2008 19:05 This film was actually the worst film in the whole world. i am finding it hard to express my distaste without inappropriate language. die before seeing this!
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Charlie Sull said...
-
Posted on Mar 19 2008 18:48
"you could even read it as a clarion call to a generation weened on in-built obsolescence", "a postmodern rendering of the archetypal ’80s schmaltz finale"?
You, sir, are a prick. - Report as inappropriate
-
- georgia said...
- Posted on Mar 19 2008 07:53 how cum no one likes this film ???????????
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Michel Gondry
Cast: Jack Black, Mos Def, Mia Farrow, Danny Glover full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 100 mins
UK Release: Feb 22 2008
US Release: Feb 22 2008
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Ashton Kutcher: a life in film
Ashton Kutcher has made it big without ever being in a decent film. Time Out looks back over his strange career
Speed Racer: special feature
Welcome to our special feature on the Wachowski brothers' 'Speed Racer', with exclusive features, shots from the movie and our early review of the film
The Matrix: revisited
It's been ten years since the original 'Matrix' film wowed cinema audiences. Tom Huddleston re-watches the three films and asks, were they really all that?
Iron Man: special feature
Welcome to our special focus on Jon Favreau's 'Iron Man', with exclusive features, shots from the movie and our early review of the film
Ten terrible cinematic superheroes
In celebration of the release of Jon Favreau's 'Iron Man', Time Out offers a list of the ten worst cinematic superheros of all time
What do you think?
Post your review now