From erasing painful memories in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to trespassing into the world of dreams in Science of Sleep, the director certainly has a unique way of looking at things.
Now Gondry is exploring the way we perceive the films that have shaped our cultural consciousness in Be Kind, Rewind.
It is the story of a struggling video store run by Mr Fletcher (Danny Glover), an aging man clinging on to a bygone era and his young helper Mike (Mos Def).
Mike gets a chance to prove himself when Mr Fletcher takes a vacation but all doesn’t go quite to plan.
Meanwhile, Mike’s best friend Jerry (Jack Black in a typically zany role) becomes magnetised during an accident when he is trying to sabotage a power plant and inadvertently deletes all the video tapes.
To save the business, Mike and Jerry set about re-creating classic films with a handheld camera from Ghostbusters and Robocop to The Lion King and Driving Miss Daisy.
And while the first half of the film is hilarious, the second half weaves in a message about the important role movies play in our society.
When the duo decide to make their own film, the community rallies behind them and when the film is showcased in the video store, the camera pans on happy faces illuminated in the darkness.
It is also a film about the changing times as indepedent video stores have had to succomb to DVD rental monoliths.
But ultimately this is a light hearted comedy that will appeal to many cinema-goers.
No comments:
Post a Comment