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KIND
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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
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