Be Kind Rewind

For my movie of the day I just happened to come across Be Kind Rewind on one of the movie channels.  I am a big fan of Gondry's visual style, but I was less taken by both Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Science of Sleep than most.  The same seemed to ring true for Be Kind Rewind.  I enjoyed the sections of the film that highlighted Gondry's creativity and visual spark, but found that the film chugged a bit in the transitions between these scenes.  Gondry injects his unique feel of innocence and charm into the film through his defining home-made special effects.   In each of these moments I at least cracked a smile.  In the case of the Boyz n the Hood remake I found myself laughing pretty hard.  I don't think anyone can deny Gondry's creativity at this point.  There is no disputing that he does these kinds of arts-and-crafts visuals better than anyone else.  The problem is that the rest of the film lacks this feeling which made the narrative less of a point of interest overall.  I was just waiting for the next movie to be presented instead of investing myself in the characters or the story.

I will say that I did like both Mos Def and Danny Glover in this movie.  I don't think that anything that they did was outstanding, but they felt genuine and I believe that their acting style worked well with Gondry's direction.  Jack Black on the other hand felt completely out of place.  I will admit that I have never seen Jack Black in a movie that I really liked, and I really hate the character that he always seems to play.  That said, I just really don't think that he fit in with any of the characters.  It was clear that he was supposed to be the odd man out in the picture, but his actions just felt fake for the most part.  Never an actor noted for his range, he continued to show that he's really only got setting and that he sticks with that.  I believe this is best illustrated by the fact that his character does not change from the beginning of the film to the end.  He still has the same outbursts and acts in the exact same way.  I realize that his part was mostly for comic relief, but he seemed to overshadow everyone else when he was on-screen, and not in a good way.

I can't really complain too much about the movie.  It was a decent film and to be honest it probably had Jack Black in his most bearable role.  Michel Gondry still has his style to display, and it really makes for a nice comforting story.  Although I would argue that this was the weakest of the Gondry films I have seen, it was still worth an afternoon watching.






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