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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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- David said...
- Posted on Mar 10 2008 12:18 Brilliant, intelligent, hilarious stuff, Gondry is a superb director and this felt like his best film. I can't understand the negative reviews, were we watching the same film?
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- Connor said...
- Posted on Mar 09 2008 19:48 Slightly funny at the start, around 20 minute's in i think i could've fallen asleep , too boring , would not recommend! me and my friends were just yawning lol.
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- bohemian said...
- Posted on Mar 09 2008 17:00 this is a serioulsy crap film. my friend and i were gonna walk out but we didnt want to wate the money. do not watch this film. 2/10 is too generous. If you watch the film ull know wat i mean.
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- liam said...
- Posted on Mar 09 2008 09:29 I find it abit funny (good movie)
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- Scamp said...
- Posted on Mar 08 2008 23:57 Oops. Forgot to rate it !
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- Scamp said...
- Posted on Mar 08 2008 23:56 Just Brilliant. Go see.
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- kia said...
- Posted on Mar 08 2008 23:54 this fim was absolutly dreadful, no story line terribel acting, misleading trailer what a waste of my well earned money! DONT SEE THIS FILM very disapointed!
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- J Compton said...
- Posted on Mar 08 2008 17:32 This was truly the most abysmal film I have ever seen. Awful acting with a weak story line. My brother walked out after 20 minutes to wait for us in the car. Me and my son and nephews followed 10 minutes later. I am still shocked at how terrible it was. I am now persuing a refund. Save your money, or be very disapointed.
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- samx.@.@.x said...
- Posted on Mar 08 2008 08:26 i wanna go and see it but i have read them and there saying that it was rubbish so i dont think do now.
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- daniel d said...
- Posted on Mar 07 2008 16:00 the worst film i have ever seen, totally stupid, i never write reviews but with this film i had to, because maybe it will stop someone going to see it, cant belive they can produce rubbish like this and expect people to pay for it
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- Alex said...
- Posted on Mar 07 2008 15:13 Pile of crud,misleading trailer,this is not a comedy.
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- Tim said...
- Posted on Mar 07 2008 09:57 Rubbish! my friend fell asleep and half the audience walked out, what was Jack Black thinking??
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- Andt said...
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Posted on Mar 06 2008 01:11
really terrible film, was very tempted to walk out halfway through, gets very boring very quickly, so many subplots that lead to nowhere and (i hate to say this) jack black is terrible in it, he plays pretty much the same character he does in every film (fair enough) but he just isn't funny, it just doesn't work.
If i had seen this on anyday other than an "orange wednesday" i would be very angry - Report as inappropriate
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- jon said...
- Posted on Mar 05 2008 16:19 what a load of poop!
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- Matty206 said...
- Posted on Mar 05 2008 09:53 Worst film i've seen in a long time! Clearly overrated! My advise if you really do want to see it is take a few cans of redbull to keep you awake!
- 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
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