Gondry revives VHS in new film
By Emmanuel Casillas, Staff Writer
No doubt about it, French director Michel Gondry is a visionary. We all saw proof of that early in his career, from his innovative music videos for the likes of Bjork and The White Stripes to his award-winning commercials for The Gap and Smirnoff vodka. So the fact that he can spring the first Hollywood surprise of the year is a no-brainer. His poignant masterpiece “Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind” is still one of the best cinematic breaths of fresh air in recent years, and even his other works (“Dave Chappelle’s Block Party” and “Science of Sleep”) resonate as original and sublime. His latest effort, “Be Kind Rewind,” boasts some refreshing insights into modern pop culture and delights as a whimsical quirk-fest, even if it stumbles a bit along the way.
For one, many are criticizing Gondry for using a subject as obsolete as analog VHS. This is the new age of quality DVD transfers and iPods, but Gondry is digging into deeper territory here, essentially attempting to take stock of the humanity that we have lost in the name of progress. But, like Charlie Chaplin in “Modern Times”, Gondry is giving this to us in the form of a comedy.
First we get Mr. Fletcher (the wonderful Danny Glover) who owns a VHS-only shop in working-class Passaic, N.J., and claims it was once the home of jazz legend Fats Waller. Waller’s music and photos serve as footnotes throughout the movie. Fletcher attempts to use this claim to keep the store from closing. When Fletcher leaves town to attend a commemoration of Waller, he leaves his assistant Mike (Mos Def) in charge. The catch: Mike must make sure his nutty friend Jerry (Jack Black) never gets near the store. Of course Mike doesn’t prevent that, and Jerry, who thinks that the local power plant is trying to destroy his brain, causes a massive electricity accident which demagnetizes all the tapes in the shop. It seems like things are over for the boys until regular customer Miss Falewicz (Mia Farrow) wishes to rent “Ghostbusters,” and the light bulb goes off: the boys will take a video camera and create short, homemade versions of the movies, using themselves and any local talent.
It’s from that scheme that we get the best aspects of the movie as the boys have a ball re-enacting the likes of “Robocop,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “King Kong” and “Driving Miss Daisy,” bringing about the kind of cinematic eye-candy Gondry is known for, with a little help from cinematographer Ellen Kuras. These scenes, however, are frustratingly short, and there are too few. Much of the movie gets taken up by Mos Def and Jack Black’s facial reactions.
Still, Gondry’s striving counts for something in this world of Teflon Hollywood, as he seeks to show us a community coming together to create something fresh in their dehumanized world. Gondry’s vision doesn’t quite flesh out beyond a mockery of YouTube, but what he does turn up can sure get people thinking, and that counts for something
