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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
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- michael ward said...
- Posted on Mar 17 2008 13:05 I really liked it I don't know how people can't laugh as it's a comedy masterpiece my fav bit was the ghostbusters' scene
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- Dave said...
- Posted on Mar 17 2008 12:20 this film was cheaply made with no real storyline. i wasnt impressed at all. dont waste your time going to see this! didnt make any sense! worst film ive seen in ages.
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- bob said...
- Posted on Mar 15 2008 17:51 oggie
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- CulD said...
- Posted on Mar 15 2008 16:03 Don't think I'd be put off the film....but the childlike journalese of TimeOut's review would certainly not recommend the magazine.
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- A said...
- Posted on Mar 14 2008 14:50 I would not recommend this film to anyone! no story line, wasnt funny absolute RUBBISH! i was tempted to walk out of the cinema!!!!!!!!!! really such a waste of time. a cheap film made for the sake of making a film.
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- Lauren said...
- Posted on Mar 14 2008 13:16 It was ok... I took my younger sister to see it thinking it would be funny. It isnt. It is more of a though provoking film I suppose. But wouldnt rate it too highly...
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- Gaby said...
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Posted on Mar 13 2008 20:49
do not go see this film its a total waste of money, we nearly walked out but hoped it woulod improve.
its so so boring, i can't believe they made itin the first place.
its utter utter rubbish.
don't waste your time or money on this film. - Report as inappropriate
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- dan said...
- Posted on Mar 13 2008 19:07 BORING and DULL, i havnt watched a film like this is a while, theres just no proper ending to it. perthetic film!
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- j said...
- Posted on Mar 13 2008 16:31 rubbish would be too nice of a description for this film. minimum of 1 star is also too high of a rating
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- dale said...
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Posted on Mar 13 2008 14:06
strange movie,mostly mind numbingly poor however some of the classic remakes such as the ghost busters library scene were extremely funny.
overall VERY dissapointing.....but watch the vid for the ghostbusters scene - Report as inappropriate
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- Rachael said...
- Posted on Mar 12 2008 14:34 This film is amazing. Its sweet, and gently funny. I think people are expecting it to be hilarious - it isnt. Its well acted, well scripted and intlligent - just what you would expect from Gondry.
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- jodie said...
- Posted on Mar 12 2008 14:24 IT WAS AWSOME IT ROCKS IIM GOIN TO WATCH IT AGEN X
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- Chris said...
- Posted on Mar 11 2008 21:04 Do not watch this film. No one in the audience laughed. It is the worst film I have ever seen. I slept through half of it. Absolute waste of money.
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- moo said...
- Posted on Mar 11 2008 15:48 this was the worst film i have seen in years, there was not a funny moment in it unless you were 4years old! as a fan of jack black i was truly dissapointed a waste of money wanted to walk out but thought it may have got better
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- K.T said...
- Posted on Mar 10 2008 21:03 We wanted to walk out after the first 10 mins, but gave it a chance. 20 Mins was more than enough to cope with the ability to watch crap, dull, unfunny, badly acted. No story line at all.
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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
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