Michel Gondry, fearless film maker, has strung together with card board, tinsel, string, kitchen foil, Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover with a generous dash of silly to complete his latest chapter of film making. Be Kind Rewind is a playful and whimsical film that explores the idea of renewing a neighbourhood‘s sense of community.

The film is centred around the friendship of Mike (Def) and Jerry (Black), along with troupe of local rouges, femmes and loons. Jerry in the opening scenes of the film decides to take on a local power plant, that looms over the community, and ends up magnetised. Jerry and his new found power drops in on Be Kind Rewind, the local video store, which turns out to be a lethal encounter for the struggling library. It doesn’t take long for Mike, the library‘s caretaker, to discover that Jerry‘s power has erased the store‘s tape collection and future. To save the day, Mike and Jerry team up to make some wrongs right with a plan that involves remaking, or Sweding, the library‘s collection of erased films. Armed with a video recorder and curious a verve for making films, their output is prolific and infectious. Swedes of Men and Black, Rush Hour 2, 2001 and the Lion King touch the community in the hope to hold off eviction and the impending wrecking ball.

Gondry again explores the idea of imagination and expression, which gives the audience many hand spun reasons to participate in the storytelling process without the latest specialist widgets, consultants, big budgets. Creativity is one of the most basic expressions available to each and every one of us, and again Gondry does his best to invite one and all to participate in the process of making ideas real, no matter the minds or the methods.

Margaret and David of the ABC‘s At the Movie Show panned Gondry‘s effort and suggested that he leave the script writing for the next film in more capable hands. They endorse the film with a low rating score.

Thank goodness one paid no attention to that review. Why is it that “good“ films, in favour with the Margaret and David‘s of the film world have be high dramas, or nail biting to be worth while?

See the — At the movies review

See the movie website