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BE KIND REWIND

With Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow, Chandler Parker, Irv Gooch, Melonie Diaz, Sigourney Weaver

Written & Directed by Michel Gondry

What an amazing movie. But what else would you expect from Frenchman Michel Gondry? Set in the small New Jersey town of Passaic, an old VHS video rental store is struggling to survive. On top of this, a new development is threatening to expand the area. The store is owned by the aging Elroy (who claims the location to be the birthplace of organ player Fats Waller), with Mike working the counter. Mike’s crazy friend Jerry has a junkyard across the road, next to a power plant (which he believes is messing with his brain waves). So, Jerry decides to sabotage the power plant. It doesn’t work… in stead, he becomes magnetized, and accidentally erases all of the video tapes in the store! After some serious agonizing, Mike and Jerry hatch a plan – they’ll re-shoot all the erased tapes in an attempt to keep the (handful) customers from getting rowdy. They re-shoot everything from Ghostbusters, King Kong and RoboCop, to Rush Hour, When We Were Kings and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Eventually they start shooting requests. The no-budget results are hilarious, but the new development is looming. This all leads to the production of their epic, incorporating the entire Passaic community.
This is a beautiful end-of-an-era film filled with great passion, humour, pathos and feel-good vibes that steers clear of sentimental sappiness, and is as much a homage to a bygone Jazz era as a love letter to a home entertainment form usurped by the DVD.
Gondry’s incredible grasp of cinematic visuals lead to amazing in-camera moments not reliant on digital FX. This includes the use of a real VHS video camera for the movie re-shoots and the construction of a fan blade and fishing line dangled in front of the lens to create an old scratched film look.

The fun is expanded with extras from the Making-Of and a (silly) conversation with Jack and Michel, to a look at the Passaic town, Jack & Mos Def improvising movie theme songs, a live show in Paris, and Gondry incorporating the legendary Booker T.

6 / A
- Paul Blom


1 2 3 4 5 6
A - B
- C



6 - Volcanic
5 - Blistering
4 - Hot
3 - Smolder
2 - Room Temp.
1 - Fizzled
0 - Extinguished

A: Multiple Viewing Potential
B: Deserves Another Look
C: Once Should Suffice

© 2009 - Flamedrop Productions