It’s always a treat when you get to see the inner workings of Michel Gondry’s brain. Visually there is nothing like it. From Legos to oversized hands it always seems as if you are living in a dream. His new film, Be Kind Rewind doesn’t take you out of the real world, but takes you to a simpler time. It is a time when people are still interested in renting VHS and have never seen Ghostbusters (really?). Perhaps this is Gondry’s way of messing with the mind, forcing you to believe something that seems so completely implausible and impractical in this digital age.

The thing is the community Gondry creates allows you to get so caught up with what’s going on you forget how silly it is. Jerry (Jack Black) is a paranoid junkyard worker who suspects the power plant of causing his headaches, but in a botched sabotage he inadvertently causes his brain to become magnetized. This leads to the unintentional destruction of all the movies in Mr. Fletcher’s (Danny Glover) store. In order to keep the store's few loyal customers Jerry and video store clerk Mike (Mos Def) must re-create and star in low-budge versions of well known films.

It begins with just one for the sweet but kooky Miss Falewicz (Mia Farrow) who is supposed to be keeping an eye out on the store. They make her believe Ghostbusters is a 20-minute film that stars Bill Murray (now a black man) and the other actors who are all played by Jerry. Soon other people in town begin to catch on and want all their films “sweded.” These scenes are of course the most fun and you will wish they spent more time showing them. The two guys reenact Driving Miss Daisy with Jerry as Daisy and use cardboard cutouts for The Lion King to simulate animation. Gondry pokes fun at the ideas of filmmaking and pushes for a simpler time when you could just grab a camera and shoot. Of course with You Tube we see this all the time and the movie itself encourages you to upload your own recreations to the site. The addition of the feisty Alma (Melonie Diaz) a local girl who they cast in Rush Hour 2 brings a love element, but Gondry never fully develops that story. This is instead a neighborhood film where everyone in the community plays a role. It is of course fantasy to believe this would happen, but Gondry does it in a heartfelt and sincere way. He never questions what is happening leaving you with the hope that it isn’t so farfetched.

by Shannon Carlin