Be Kind Rewind

I think I am becoming a Michel Gondry fan.

So much so that I very much enjoyed Be Kind Rewind despite the fact that it was not the best received of films by the critics and the public.

Gondry first came to my attention when I was teaching, for the first time, an animation class using traditional (non-computer-based) techniques.  I was introducing stop motion animation when my teaching assistant brought Gondry's music videos for The White Stripes to my attention.  Needless to say, I was amazed by the animation and the visual style of these music videos (particularly the one for "Fell in Love with a Girl".  It also made me a fan of The White Stripes.

Then I viewed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  While a significant portion of the creativity of that film does fall to screenwriter Charles Kaufman (as evidenced as well by his screenplay for Being John Malkovich), it was an amazing film with jumbled the narrative structure in a way that was reminiscent of films such as George Roy Hill's Slaughterhouse Five, but managed to remain a visually stunning, but sweet love story.

Be Kind Rewind is clearly not at the creative level of Eternal Sunshine, but manages to be just as sweet in its nostalgic examinations of Passaic, New Jersey, Fats Waller and the era of VHS narratives.  Mos Def worked well for me as a low-key character (as opposed to his portrayal as Ford Prefect in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy).  And no, I didn't find Jack Black the annoyance that many others did.  

Is Be Kind Rewind a great film?  No.  But it is a very enjoyable film, and a heart-felt one at that, if you happen to be in the right mood.  It made me nostalgic in all the right ways, made Passaic come alive as a community (check out the documentary included on the DVD as well; it is very good), and gave me a laugh or two.  I also smiled the whole way through the film.

I give it a VC ranking of 6.5/10.

The film rankings:

1: Even Mystery Science Theater 3000 cannot save this film!!! 

2: Only watch if it is on MST3K.

3: Why did you watch this film?

4: Mediocre, but not a bad film.

5: Average film.

6: Good film.

7: Excellent film.

8: Why don't you own this film?

9: You don't have this film (there must be some good reason, right)!?!

10: I wouldn't be caught dead without this film!!!