Be Kind Rewind (15.)
Directed by Michel Gondry.
Starring Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover, Melonie Diaz, Mia Farrow. 100 mins
From the director of The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind comes You Tube – the Movie. Its democratic Do It Yourself aesthetic is captured in Gondry’s tale of two video shop workers Jerry (Black) and Mike (Def) who start filming their own comically amateurish versions of movies - Sweding as they call it - after they accidentally erase all the tapes in the store.
Their recreations of films like Ghostbusters and Rush Hour 2 are a joy though the encasing story, a plucky underdog tale about a small video shop trying to survive the renovation of their derelict block, is less sure footed. Gondry conjures up some magical visuals and his film has immense charm and whimsy but it doesn’t wholly convince.
There’s a lot of typecasting going on. Danny Glover plays the wise kindly elder; Farrow is a batty old lady while Jack Black plays a man who ruins everything he comes in touch with. Ah, Jack Black. If moviegoing is a long quiet beach (which it isn’t but stick with it) then Black is the group of young people spoiling it for everyone by playing their radio loudly and indulging in a look-at-us game of volleyball.
It’s not that he isn’t very talented; it’s just that his talent is all you get, regardless of what the role requires. He’s John Belushi reincarnated with the soul of a hyperactive child protégé.
Pairing him with Mos Def is not exactly a recipe for comic gold. I think we all rather warm to the sheepish Mr Def but he is unique among both the rapper and acting fraternity in being someone you wish would come out of his shell a bit more.
The message of the film is sternly anti-corporate but aspects of its left me a little uneasy. A key sequence features a giant mural of Fats Waller that Mike and Jerry have painted under a bridge. One night some kids come and bury it under their own graffiti. I think this is intended as a symbol of the eternal process of creative rejuvenation; that no art is sacred and that everything is up for grabs. But I wonder if Gondry would hold that principle if it was one of his own works that faced permanent erasure?
Jack Black Reviews:
Bernie
Kung Fu Panda
Directed by Michel Gondry.
Starring Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover, Melonie Diaz, Mia Farrow. 100 mins
From the director of The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind comes You Tube – the Movie. Its democratic Do It Yourself aesthetic is captured in Gondry’s tale of two video shop workers Jerry (Black) and Mike (Def) who start filming their own comically amateurish versions of movies - Sweding as they call it - after they accidentally erase all the tapes in the store.
Their recreations of films like Ghostbusters and Rush Hour 2 are a joy though the encasing story, a plucky underdog tale about a small video shop trying to survive the renovation of their derelict block, is less sure footed. Gondry conjures up some magical visuals and his film has immense charm and whimsy but it doesn’t wholly convince.
There’s a lot of typecasting going on. Danny Glover plays the wise kindly elder; Farrow is a batty old lady while Jack Black plays a man who ruins everything he comes in touch with. Ah, Jack Black. If moviegoing is a long quiet beach (which it isn’t but stick with it) then Black is the group of young people spoiling it for everyone by playing their radio loudly and indulging in a look-at-us game of volleyball.
It’s not that he isn’t very talented; it’s just that his talent is all you get, regardless of what the role requires. He’s John Belushi reincarnated with the soul of a hyperactive child protégé.
Pairing him with Mos Def is not exactly a recipe for comic gold. I think we all rather warm to the sheepish Mr Def but he is unique among both the rapper and acting fraternity in being someone you wish would come out of his shell a bit more.
The message of the film is sternly anti-corporate but aspects of its left me a little uneasy. A key sequence features a giant mural of Fats Waller that Mike and Jerry have painted under a bridge. One night some kids come and bury it under their own graffiti. I think this is intended as a symbol of the eternal process of creative rejuvenation; that no art is sacred and that everything is up for grabs. But I wonder if Gondry would hold that principle if it was one of his own works that faced permanent erasure?
Jack Black Reviews:
Bernie
Kung Fu Panda
