Film: Be Kind Rewind in theaters this weekend
The internets are abuzz with talk of Michel Gondry’s latest film offering Be Kind Rewind (opens tomorrow, Feb 22), and why shouldn’t they be? With a totally unique style that might be called surrealist-fantasy-science-fiction with a humanist bent, Gondry’s music videos, and more recently his films, have made him something of an icon amongst the MTV generation. For most of us, the first time we ever consciously saw Michel Gondry’s work was his video for Bjork’s tune, Human Behavior, in which a menacing teddy bear stalks a flannel clad hunter through a fairy-tale like forest world, while Bjork subsequently frolics, dances, and flies through said world. Gondry’s stunning visual imagery, although whimsical and somewhat arcane, conveys a level of complexity that highlights his ability to take seemingly childlike visions and turn them into sophisticated works of art. The DVD with his music videos from 1995-2003 is a must have for anyone reading this blog. Check out this sick video of Gondry making the classic White Stripes video for "Fell In Love With A Girl".
But we digress…
Following The Science of Sleep (2006), Be Kind Rewind is the third film written and directed by Michel Gondry. Mos Def stars as a hapless clerk in a mom-and-pop video store owned by Danny Glover. When his “lovable loser” best friend (played by Jack Black) decides to sabotage the local power station (it is after all, melting his brain) all of videos in the store become demagnetized and turn to static. When Black’s character realizes that his friend’s job could be at stake, he comes up with a plan to remake (or Swede) all of the videos in the store (including Ghostbusters and Robocop to name a few). Hilarity and Gondry’s trademark heartwarming sentiments ensue.
As in all Gondry’s films, the score plays prominently in Be Kind. All of the Sweded films have their own theme songs that pay homage to, or as is the case in the Rush Hour 2 knockoff “Chinese Bamboo”, parody the original tunes that they are based on. Gondry tapped frequent collaborator Jean-Michel Bernand, who first worked with Michel Gondry on the Charlie Kaufman penned film Human Nature and then again on The Science of Sleep, to write and conduct the score. His work on Be Kind fits amazingly with Gondry’s visual aesthetic and slightly off-kilter storyline.
In addition to the score, the soundtrack features music from Fats Waller, Booker T. Jones, and Billy Preston. Because Waller plays a major part in the storyline (we’ll let you find out why), his songs are featured, including a Mos Def cover of “Your Feets Too Big”. Sadly, the only Jack Black number on the soundtrack is a 9 second track called “Jerry’s Sweded Ghost Song”, but to be fair, it’s 9 seconds of awesome.
And as an extra bonus, here’s a video of Michel Gondry, Mos Def, and Jean-Michel Bernard performing “Your Feets Too Big” at this year’s Sundance awards...
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