3rd March 2008

Be Kind Rewind (USA)

Director - Michel Gondry

Cast - Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover...

* * * * *

Michel Gondry is not a good screenwriter. Be Kind Rewind highlights this point in fifty foot neon signage. Never has there been a film so desperately in need of a plot, character development and just some overall coherence. Which is a shame, because at its essence (and despite all of its faults), Be Kind Rewind is a great idea and a lot of fun.

Be Kind Rewind does manage to capture a little of what makes mainstream cinema so appealing, and it is not necessarily the actual pictures themselves. Rather, it is our response to such films. The way we commune in our groups and descend upon the cinema as a social outing; the way we howl with laughter and recycle dodgy action movie quotes for ages after; the way we somehow identify with the characters and secretly wish we could perhaps be them for a brief moment.

These urges usually find an outlet through the process of re-enactment. With common people, this is typically via the means of a daydream. Yet there are some people who take a different approach, they pick up a camera and actually begin to make movies themselves. It is this act that beautifully encapsulates the charm and potential of cinema and it is where Gondry is at his best.

Gondry approaches the ‘sweding’ of Hollywood films with inventiveness and a DIY aesthetic that has come to signify him as a director. His approach is often whimsical and sentimental, but it is always honest and pure in spirit. Such a love of cinema makes it hard to really criticise him. Despite the fact that Gondry clearly needs to be reigned in a times, you can’t help but admire him.

Mos Def also deserves a mention. He performs charmingly in a role that at first seems to be second fiddle to Jack Black’s showy turn. Yet Def steals the show and ends up being the heart of the film, in the process confirming his status as an exciting young comedic actor.

Be Kind Rewind falls down on many levels, but always manages to pick itself back up with smile.