Be Kind Rewind is the latest artsy “American” comedy from French writer/director Michel Gondry. Gondry is highly revered by the cosmopolitan Starbucks crowd for his unconventional and “quirky” postmodern comedies that toy with the way the audience is supposed to interpret (or force to look at) the scene. Be Kind Rewind is no exception to Gondry’s obsession with mise en scène masturbation. Like fellow Frenchman Jean-Luc Godard, Gondry can’t help but use his intellect in a way that completely destroys the true magic of the cinema.
Be Kind Rewind stars banal slob comedian Jack Black and psycho black Muslim Mos Def. I must admit that I was slightly turned off to find these two clowns as performers in another artsy fartsy Michel Gondry feature length experiment. Woody Allen’s sex slave Mia Farrow and The Color Purple star Danny Glover are featured in Be Kind Rewind in senior citizen roles. The film also features a variety of other unappealing actors that you would expect in a film low in quality and head high in bullshit.
The two lead clowns in Be Kind Rewind decide they should make their own films since the films on the VHS tapes at the video store they work at have been erased. They remake everything from Ghostbusters to 2001: A Space Odyssey, to delight the residents of the intercity hellhole that the video store is located in. Eventually the whole “multicultural” neighborhood is involved in the making of these cardboard set films resulting in a “we are the world” type message. I found this beat-to-death message to be the only thing remotely funny in the pretentious load of frog excrement that is Be Kind Rewind.
Be Kind Rewind lacks any type of element that would make a film enjoyable or even remotely interesting to watch. The film presents the failure that is the American intercity as a place of defensive yet sensitive individuals that engage in crime in a “cute” scenario away. Hollywood has always pulled the blinds over the American audience’s eyes in regards to reality that is the urban zoo.
Michel Gondry will never be one of the great directors or even notable directors. Like most highly regarded contemporary directors, Gondry only sticks out because of the lack of innovative filmmakers. In a period where M. Night Shyamalan and Quentin Tarantino are considered some of the greatest filmmakers of our time, it is no surprise that Michel Gondry is considered one of the foremost directors of artistic filmmaking.
Be Kind Rewind stars banal slob comedian Jack Black and psycho black Muslim Mos Def. I must admit that I was slightly turned off to find these two clowns as performers in another artsy fartsy Michel Gondry feature length experiment. Woody Allen’s sex slave Mia Farrow and The Color Purple star Danny Glover are featured in Be Kind Rewind in senior citizen roles. The film also features a variety of other unappealing actors that you would expect in a film low in quality and head high in bullshit.
The two lead clowns in Be Kind Rewind decide they should make their own films since the films on the VHS tapes at the video store they work at have been erased. They remake everything from Ghostbusters to 2001: A Space Odyssey, to delight the residents of the intercity hellhole that the video store is located in. Eventually the whole “multicultural” neighborhood is involved in the making of these cardboard set films resulting in a “we are the world” type message. I found this beat-to-death message to be the only thing remotely funny in the pretentious load of frog excrement that is Be Kind Rewind.
Be Kind Rewind lacks any type of element that would make a film enjoyable or even remotely interesting to watch. The film presents the failure that is the American intercity as a place of defensive yet sensitive individuals that engage in crime in a “cute” scenario away. Hollywood has always pulled the blinds over the American audience’s eyes in regards to reality that is the urban zoo.
Michel Gondry will never be one of the great directors or even notable directors. Like most highly regarded contemporary directors, Gondry only sticks out because of the lack of innovative filmmakers. In a period where M. Night Shyamalan and Quentin Tarantino are considered some of the greatest filmmakers of our time, it is no surprise that Michel Gondry is considered one of the foremost directors of artistic filmmaking.
-Ty E
I totally disagree with your review. Rewind showed the ability to make a bad situation into an incredible unification of not just the surrounding area, but the entire town. Sure the plot may have been a little lax and some of the actors are older or "unappealing" as you put it. This movie allows hope for all the hate that circulates in this world, and although the "we are the world" message has been used many times before, it is brilliantly displayed here. I'm not very happy with your reviews, and quite frankly, I find your dry sense of humor, and lacsidaisical approach to many cult classics to be horrific and hurtful for many of us movie lovers. Movies don't need to be perfect, and dont have to have an incredible storyline to be a "good movie", for some the appeal is the ability to relate to the plot.
ReplyDeleteIf you are not "happy" with the reviews, don't read them. It is obvious you are a fan of escapism, but the reality is denial of a hateful world is cowardliness. Hope is for the impotent and action is for the real world changers. I am sure if someone went up to you and put a gun to your head, you would accept passively the bullet. And the arrogant and overrated Michel Gondry is certainly not going to save you from the big mean world!
ReplyDeletethis film should have been called "BE KIND, BE A CHICKEN-SHIT MOTHER-FUCKER", and by the way, jack black is a pile of crap.
ReplyDeleteJack Black is starting to look like my grand-mother, the fucking poor fat bastard.
ReplyDelete