Be Kind Rewind

Rating:

By Willie Krischke – June 17, 2008

Michel Gondry is quickly becoming one of my favorite film directors. The creator and director of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “The Science of Sleep,” he is the master of a certain kind of low-tech art direction/special effects that far surpasses anything the Wachowski brothers are producing in the creativity department. Movies like “Speed Racer” and “300” certainly feel slick, but seem to lack real imagination. I guess once everything’s as easy as a mouse click, real creativity and imagination become obsolete. Gondry’s movies, on the other hand, inspire with things like tin foil horses and vacuum cleaner jetpacks. It’s refreshing.

If you’re with me so far – if you can understand how watching a guy dressed in tin foil might be more interesting than watching a man made of metal – you will enjoy “Be Kind Rewind.” Both in its story and the way its story is told, it’s Gondry’s low-tech manifesto. You’ll walk away from it feeling that the story didn’t matter as much as the implications of the story.  And you might be inspired to go out and make your own low-tech movie. I hope so.

Faced with the closure of his rundown, VHS-only movie rental store, Danny Glover leaves the business in the hands of Mos Def so he can research what other businesses are doing to succeed (apparently he’s never heard of DVDs – let alone Netflix.) Mike is faithful and hard-working, but not terribly clever or strong-willed. His buddy Jack Black is manic and crazy, as all Jack Black characters are destined to be, and through a ridiculously silly plot device manages to erase all the tapes in the video store. Mike and Jerry decide it will be easier to re-film the erased movies, starring themselves, than to try and replace them (nobody sells VHS anymore.) They figure they can fool the one slightly batty old lady who wants “Ghostbusters,” but are surprised to learn that their uber low budget, 20-minute “remakes” fool no one, but please everyone. Soon there’s a line out the door full of people wanted their movies “sweded” (Jerry’s randomly invented term) and willing to pay $20 to see it done. By the time old man Fletcher returns, his rundown video store has become a hopping production studio. Of course, the bigwigs still want to tear it down, and all the guys are guilty of some large-scale copyright infringement, but that all gets worked out in the end, more or less.

I’ll freely admit that I liked the idea of “Be Kind Rewind” better than the movie itself. As a film, it has plenty of flaws, starting with the storytelling and extending into the performances and even Gondry’s trademark art direction. It doesn’t really work on a purely dramatic (or comedic) level. It’s clearly low-budget itself and lacks the painstaking visual creativity of “The Science of Sleep” — which as one of the most fun-to-watch-in-slow-motion movies I’ve ever seen. But at some point, like Mike and Jerry’s films, its limits become more charming than debilitating. What Gondry’s doing isn’t that much more complicated or expensive than what Jerry and Mike are doing, and the implication is, you could be doing it too. As such, Gondry reinvents moviemaking, transforming it from a slick Hollywood industry into a collaborative, community effort. While most movies require budgets that start in the millions (and expand into the hundreds of millions) “Be Kind Rewind” is saying that, really, all you need is a hundred dollar video camera, some tempura paint, duct tape and a lively imagination to make a movie. And that these movies might be more satisfying, fun, entertaining and memorable than the Oscar winners. It’s not just a fun idea, it’s actually happening; YouTube is full of DIYers revolutionizing the entertainment industry. (Wanna see for yourself? Go to YouTube and search for “sweded.” I got 3,180 results, and plenty of laughs out of it.)

One summer afternoon when I was about 20 I made my own movie, mostly by accident (I said, “what should we do today?” One friend said “let’s make cookies! and another friend said “let’s watch a movie!” and I heard “let’s make a movie!” and we were off to the races.) It was took about 6 hours to make, and was extremely low budget – I think we spent $5 on it – and was one of the best-spent days of my life. It was fun to make, fun to watch, and fun to remember. A much better way to spend an afternoon than making cookies or watching a movie. As I watched “Be Kind Rewind,” I remembered that afternoon, and resolved that, when I have kids, we won’t just watch movies together, we’ll make movies together.

Here’s to do-it-yourself filmmakers everywhere and the re-imagining of film as a collaborative, creative venture instead of a consumer industry. My hat’s off to you, Michel Gondry, and I hope many follow in your footsteps.

Recommended

• if you’ve ever made your own film, especially on a budget of $20 or less.
• if you’re ready for something visual interesting that isn’t computer generated.
• if the idea of low-budget, community-collaborative movies is intriguing to you
• if you think there’s more real entertainment on YouTube than in the theaters any day of the week.
• if you’ve ever participated in community theater (it’s kind of the same idea.)

Not Recommended

• if you’re not really interested in the “idea” of this movie
• if you just want to see a good movie – you know, solid script, great performances, tear-jerking drama, pitch-perfect comedy, all that.
• if inconsistencies in the plot, abandoned story-lines, ridiculous plot devices, etc, outweigh charm, personality, and creativity in your movie book.

Be Kind Rewind is available today, June 18, on DVD.