Be Kind Rewind

The newest creation from writer/director Michael Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) is essentially a feel good buddy comedy that emphasises community spirit and independent art and business over corporations and commercialism. Accidentally magnetised in yet another scheme gone awry, inept oaf Jerry (a perfectly cast Jack Black) ends up erasing every one of the movies in the archaic video store where his well-meaning best friend Mike (a better than usual Mos Def) works. In an attempt to replace the erased tapes, Mike and Jerry team up to record their own versions with just a video camera and a lot of low budget creativity. The duo are surprised to find there is a high demand for their "Sweded” versions, essentially 20-minute shorts recorded in a day, and they start to pump them out with more and more help from the community. Of course it’s not all fun and games, and complications do occur, resulting in a tearjerker ending inspired by Gondry’s previous film, the documentary concert film Block Party. Despite the sentimentality of the film and the almost anachronistic use of video, there are plenty of funny moments throughout. That the best of these happen to be in the filming of the "Sweded” versions makes me wonder if I’d almost prefer to watch a DVD collection of those films instead. Hopefully a few of them will be featured on future editions of the DVD. As it is, the current DVD release is light on features, with a behind-the-scenes look at the strength of community that went into the film, as well as the widescreen and full-screen versions of the movie. It’s probably worth waiting for the special edition that must surely be on its way.