Be Kind Rewind (2008) film review by Jon X. Bangs

Written & Directed by Michel Gondry

Starring:
Mos Def
Jack Black
Danny Glover
Melonie Diaz
Irv Gooch

From the moment I saw the trailer for this film, I knew it was made for me and people like me and I knew it would change my life. It wasn't as impactful as Pulp Fiction, Fargo, Swimming With Sharks, Glengarry Glen Ross or Barfly, but it was still very important for me as an up and coming/down and out artist.

The only negative thing I can take away from this movie was that it has me rethinking my career. Now I want to write movies again. Ultimately I would love to be making them, but writing is a start. Actually, I want to do it all. I want to write about music and movies and make movies and make music and I'm in over my head. But guess what? This movie made me feel like it was all possible and now filmmaking and screenwriting feels like a priority.

Mike (Mos Def) works at a video store owned by Mr. Fletcher (Glover). Jerry (Black) is Mike's directionless and paranoid friend from the block who won't stop hanging around the store and lives in a trailer next to a power plant. When Mr. Fletcher goes out of town to find out new techniques to help his struggling video store (which still sells strictly VHS tapes) he leaves Mike in charge of things. As he boards a train out of town, he tells Mike to keep Jerry away by writing it on the window of the train. Mike reads it backwards and while he's trying to decipher the "cryptic" (backwards) message, Jerry barges his way in again and again and after an accident at the power plant, he gets electrocuted and in a momentarily delusional state, he accidentally erases all the videos in the store by demagnetizing them. When Mr. Fletcher sends Ms. Falewicz (an out of place Mia Farrow) to the store to check on things, she sees that shit has hit the fan and demands that a copy of Ghostbusters be ready for her when she comes back or she'll be forced to report their wrongdoings. The only thing they can think of doing is recreating the movie themselves and what follows is the best and funniest part of the movie. The crowd at the screening was in stitches as Black and Mos Def starred in and directed their own remake of the horror comedy classic.

I didn't realize how laugh out loud funny the movie was going to be until the Ghostbusters scene took over the entire theatre. Much to my surprise there were a few more moments that garnered the same reaction. It's not as artistic a film as Eternal Sunshine... or the Science of Sleep, but in the end it was more rewarding for me, which is saying a lot considering Sleep was one of my favorites of 2006.

(The 3 films that have influenced/inspired me the most in recent memory are Stranger Than Fiction, Knocked Up and Be Kind Rewind.)

Ms. Falewicz and the community quickly grow to like their versions of big Hollywood movies even better than the originals and demand more. They do just that with the help of their supporting cast led by Wilson (Gooch), Jerry's charmingly insane mechanic and Alma, (the raw, unpolished and sneakily cute Diaz) an "actress" they recruited from the local laundromat. She is that "just one of the guys" chick who is so cool that nobody realizes "that girl" is right beneath their noses.

One of my favorite things about Jerry and Mike's "Sweded" films (see the movie) is that the viewers of them aren't confused about what's going on. They immediately recognize who the "stars" of the show are and expect them to get back to bidnezz ASAP. And they do just that, putting their special touches on Robocop, When We Were Kings and Driving Miss Daisy among countless others. When Mr. Fletcher returns to town, he is pleased that the store is doing well, but is already determined to go to the dvd format. Luckily, he eventually changes his mind and just goes with the flow until the FBI comes knocking on the door in the form of the wasted Sigourney Weaver.

Mos Def is almost invisible at times. No wonder Black got most of the screen time in the films within the film. But he’s such a calming influence and is just the steady hand that the often out of control film needs to bring it all back home. The film is all over the place, but easily digestible; it's sleepy, but dressed up and ready to go; casually cutting edge and breezily bouncy.

Glover hasn’t looked this free and lively since the Royal Tennenbaums.

Black plays the same character he does in many of his other movies which is no problem for me because I’m a huge fan, but for one brief moment in the film, he finally stops fooling around just in time to be a momentary voice of reason as he reminds Mos Def that life is simply too short to always settle. This was a staggering reminder for me, as well and I am now determined to work with Michel Gondry as well as Paul Thomas Anderson the Brothers Coen and Judd Apatow. I'm not saying it's going to happen. I probably have no chance in hell, but it's something I'm always going to keep in the back of my head and keep pushing for. I'd like to work with Martin Scorcese, Sidney Lummet and countless other of my visionary heroes, but hey, I'm a realist at the same time.

It's pointless to sell yourself short with all that's out there to be witnessed and that's pretty much what this movie is all about. It's about dreaming, not giving up, ambition and life's limitless possibilities. The cinematography of this film is not as dreamlike as some of his others, but in some ways, it's his dreamiest vision yet. In Gondry's mind, if you can dream it, you can do it, or you can do your best to recreate it.

Some will say that this film is “too happy”, but to me a happy conclusion was all but essential because it would make all that hoping and dreaming futile if everything went up in smoke and I believe that would have made for quite the disappointing trip to the cinema. Much of this film is so absurd that you just have to laugh and if you let yourself go completely, I find it hard to believe that you won’t enjoy yourself immensely.

There's even an added bonus in that it's also a love letter to legendary musician Fats Waller, something I wasn’t bargaining for coming in and added that extra little intangible something that made it that much more complete.

I’ve heard it said that the plot is pointless and to those people I say that I guess believing in yourself, going for it all and having a good time are also pointless, because that’s what it’s all about. If you go digging for a higher meaning, you’re not going to find it in a film like this, which is strange with Gondry. This time he seems to have a more simple message. He seems to be saying "Stop imagining, stop dreaming, stop thinking, stop doing what IBM commercials tell you to do... Just start doing something." Believe me, I’m lecturing myself as much as you, if not more. I know some things take a lot of time and a lot more means and some of it seems impossible, but you have to at least try or it will kill you more than any failed attempt will.

This is one of those movies that makes you feel good because it wants you to be a part of all the fun and nonsense and isn’t trying to shove its superior level of coolness down your throat. Ironically Jack Black played the opposite of this in High Fidelity, but Gondry seems to be more from the John Cusack school of thought. He’d rather sell some copies of the Beta Band album than keep the obscure Captain Beefheart LP for himself.

Not only is life simply what you make it, but every second of every day, every city street, every breath of air, every personal encounter, every thought, every step and every waking moment is in your hands and you ultimately hold the blueprint. If you decide to stay where you are, then you must deal with the consequences, but living without boundaries seems to be the way to go these days. You don’t need IFC to find independent spirit. This seems to be the perfect time to ignore everything that was ever taught to you growing up and to construct your own path. Don’t take life or art too seriously. I hope this film inspires a bunch of people to get into and fuck with art, even if they have to do it the “right way”.