Jon's Movie Reviews: Be Kind Rewind

Be Kind Rewind (2008)
Directed By Michel Gondry

There's a moment in Be Kind Rewind where the tone slightly shifts from madcap comedy about two good-natured people trying to do ridiculous things, to building community around adversity. It's a shift that does not really happen gradually or unexpectedly, but it's one that occurs fairly suddenly and the movie is only better for it. And what's great about this shift, is just as the "two guys with a video camera remake popular movies" premise starts to wear a little thin, something strong and heart-warming takes its place.

Generally, the movie is about two guys, Jerry (Jack Black) and Mike (Mos Def) that hang around a video store owned by Mr Fletcher (Danny Glover). Mike sees Mr. Fletcher as a father figure, and Mr. Fletcher responds by regaling him with stories of a famous, late Jazz musician that grew up and lived in their Passaic, NJ town. When Mr. Fletcher leaves town for a few days, he leaves the store in Mike's (in)competent hands, leading to a suddenly magnetized Jerry to erase every VHS tape in the store. Since Mr. Fletcher has Miss Falewicz (Mia Farrow) checking on the store, Jerry and Mike are forced to make their own versions of the movies so that she is reassured nothing is wrong and everything in the store is business-as-usual.

What this movie succeeds most at is encouraging people to be creative in solving their problems. I just finished reading Rebel Without a Crew, which is the story of Robert Rodriguez making El Mariachi for $7,000 in under two weeks. In that book, Rodriguez emphasizes how important it is to be creative rather than rich. Anyone can throw money and people at problems, but it takes a creative, hard-working person to solve them with limited resources. Film schools will tell you that there is a preset, established way to do things, but the reality is, anyone with a creative spirit can create.

In this film, Gondry says that what is most important in life is creating art. When all the movies in the store are erased and Mike and Jerry panic, it's Mike that has the inspiration to just do it themselves. He grabs an old VHS camcorder and they embark on a mission that not many people would have balls to follow. And amazingly, though the movies are technically terrible, the town rallies around them, thrilled to have something new, original and familiar to cling to. Wrapping the store around a biopic of their famous Jazz musician gives the story a nice structure and a heart-warming close.

Be Kind Rewind: B+

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