BE KIND REWIND
US, 2008, 101 minutes, Colour.
Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow, Melonie Diaz.
Directed by Michel Gondry.
Michel Gondry has built up a reputation in his native France and in the US for offbeat, whimsical comedies that can delight as well as offer food for thought, films like Human Nature, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep. They don’t appeal to everyone. It is probably best to have a ‘different’ sense of humour, a bit fey, a bit childlike/childish and a pleasure in the non-predictable.
Be Kind Rewind is one of his slighter films that will either irritate no end or exert a fatal charm that will draw you in. The irritation factor is compounded by the fact that the star is the irrepressible Jack Black – at his most Jack Blackish.
We remember those old movies (from Capra and others who show a mixed response to human nature and are mistaken for optimists) where there is an old man, a little old lady or a family which is holding out against the authorities who have pulled down every other building to promote luxury apartments and progress. The little olds own the only house not bought up – and they wont’ sell.
This time it is it is the grizzled grey-haired Mr Fletcher (Danny Glover) who owns a dilapidated video story, called Be Kind Rewind (no DVDs yet), in a dilapidated corner building where, allegedly, Fats Waller was born.
Can he save the shop and the building? Is it worth it in Passaic, New Jersey (the screenplay adding insult to injury by running down run-down Passaic)? Can his slow but nice assistant (Mos Def) and his oddball friend Jerry (Jack Black) raise enough money for repairs?
When Jerry tries to sabotage the local power plant, he gets sabotaged himself, electrified – which has disastrous effect on all the tapes for rent in the shop. When Mr Fletcher’s friend, Miss Falewicz (Mia Farrow of all people) wants to rent Ghostbusters, they don’t have it, try to borrow it from their large, upmarket rivals (which Mr Fletcher has gone to spy on to get ideas about how to run a modern store). Refused, they get the brainwave (no, ‘brain’ is far too flattering) to make their own version. This is pretty silly but does the trick. Once they start doing their own versions of Rush Hour 2, King Kong, Driving Miss Daisy and 2001, with loads of others on their production slate due to public demand, the audience will either opt out or start to enjoy the film immensely.
Speaking of Ghostbusters, Sigourney Weaver turns up as the Trenton official who reminds the would-be directors about copyright laws and huge fines.
The ‘little people’ have their day when the locals all turn up, inside the shop and out on the streets in crowds, to watch the home-made film about Fats Waller – who was not born in the building at all. So, that’s a Michel Gondry film.
1.The work of Michel Gondry, offbeat, whimsical, sensibilities for humour, sense of humour?
2.Imagination, the Fats Waller story, the Fats Waller film, Passaic, New Jersey, change, the movies, technology, video, DVD? Make your own video?
3.The title, the name of the shop, Videos Usage, Mr Fletcher, Michael, Jerry, the business, the customers, lack of customers, the New Jersey officials, the deadlines?
4.New Jersey, the street, the building, the garage, caravans, the authentic atmosphere? The musical score?
5.The credits and the Fats Waller film? The ending with the film? Black and white, acted, the impact? Jerry and Michael and the Fats Waller graffiti under the tunnel, the police? The ethos, the myths? The Fats Waller songs? The irony that the story was not true?
6.Mr Fletcher, his trip, going to the train, bequeathing the shop to Michael, Michael finishing his sentences, his going to spy on the upmarket shop, the customers, his interests, the ‘How to run a video store’? Jerry and Michael, their friendship, characters? Their movie talk?
7.The graffiti and the police? The ladder and the raid? Jerry and his creating a mess in the shop, stands collapsing …? Michael as the adopted son? The issue with the raid, the metal cover, the ladder, Michael not participating, Jerry and his being electrified, the effect on all the tapes and wiping them? The reaction by Miss Falewicz, the other renters?
8.Jerry and Michael sparring, desperate to help the shop, Miss Falewicz? wanting to rent Ghostbusters, her decision? The decision to make the film themselves, the song, being Bill Murray, the humorous re-enactment? The sense of humour for these sequences?
9.The help from Alma, going to the shop, her sister not interested? The re-enactment of Rush Hour 2 and the various parodies, The Lion King and the discussion, King Kong, the huge list and the titles put on screen, 2001 and The Wheel, Driving Miss Daisy …?
10.The customers being satisfied, discussing them, the gang arriving, paying their twenty dollars, the two lines for action and comedy, the variety of requests, local interest?
11.Mr Fletcher and his return, his shock, listening to Michael and Jerry, the authorities and the plan, Alma and her aims to get the money?
12.The variety of productions, the queues outside the shop, the films being ‘sweded’?
13.The official, her arrival, the humour of Sigourney Weaver taking the part? The discussions, the copyright, the costs and fines?
14.The finale with the Fats Waller film, people watching it in the shop, the sheet on the window, people watching it in the street, local spirit, applause?
15.A film that is both fey and whimsical? Its capacity for appeal as well as irritation?
