‘Be Kind Rewind’ a loving tribute to filmmaking

Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover) runs Be Kind Rewind, which is (what else?) a video store that has not yet made the transition to DVD—which is to say that it’s scheduled to be demolished unless he can make enough money to bring his building up to code. Fletcher leaves Mike (Mos Def) in charge, but it seems that his paranoid buddy Jerry (Jack Black) has taken this time to wage a war against the nearby power plant, which he claims is part of a sinister mind-control scheme; a failed sabotage plan has left him magnetized, which of course handily erases all of the tapes at Be Kind Rewind.

So when Mr. Fletcher’s friend Ms. Falewicz (Mia Farrow) insists on renting a copy of “Ghostbusters,” Mike picks up an old VHS camera; he and Jerry whip up a 20-minute version of “Ghostbusters” in about five hours. But with more customers coming in every day, more movies must be made. These amateur masterpieces come to be known as “Sweded” films—so named because they look like European bootlegs—and they’re an instant hit with the local population.

One of my many critical rules of thumb is to suspect that which is intentionally, self-consciously bad—like “Napoleon Dynamite,” “Flight of the Conchords,” or any of that ilk—because they expose an unequivocal contempt for whatever they’re mocking. But in “Be Kind Rewind,” Gondry manages to offer his amateur filmmakers a genuine sense of urgency, not only dictated by the plot but in the burning need to pay homage to their favorite films. Consider that, despite their inability to get a hold of a VHS copy of the real film, they can still recount the most memorable moments of “Ghostbusters” without any provocation. You quickly realize that you’re not laughing at Jerry and Mike’s efforts because they’re poorly made, you’re laughing because they’re made with incredible cunning and audacity—replacing the proton streams in “Ghostbusters” with pipe cleaners is such a brilliant idea in do-it-yourself special effects that you kind of wish you’d thought of it first.

But that leads into the reason why the idea behind this movie is so unbelievably original—and, despite encouragement from the film’s official website, why the concept cannot be simply duplicated by any hipper-than-thou idiot with a camera. Whereas Jerry and Mike run their “Sweding” business on the principles of speed, necessity and a love for filmmaking, real-world attempts to directly imitate what they do here would only come across as disingenuous; Sweded movies have to come from the heart. Indeed, even when the movies are commissioned by members of the neighborhood, Jerry and Mike are simply overtaken by their excitement for cinema—a feeling that leaks through the screen and paralyzes the viewer with elation.

Of course, there are a few technical issues with the script to hurdle over. When I say that the Sweded films become an overnight sensation, I mean to say that film’s various scenarios are crammed so tightly together that you’re given little time to consider individual concepts. But it’s an easily forgiven nitpick—considering that the film takes place during some indeterminable period in time (could any VHS rental joint really stay open 10 years after DVD?), a few lapses in chronology should be pretty much expected. Besides, this is the kind of film that you have to contemplate as a whole. As copyright lawyers descend on the filmmakers and the video store faces imminent demolition, my initial objections to “Be Kind Rewind’s” ultimate message were similar to my objections to Preston Sturges’ “Sullivan’s Travels:” are we to say that movies are only around to distract ourselves from the frightening world that exists outside? But that’s the tricky thing about movie love—any attempt to define it as a phenomenon, as a feeling, will come across as cloying and false. Again, it’s easy to forgive. I’ve been trying to define my personal sense of movie love from the first time I marveled at the size of the silver screen; in its sometimes-misguided silliness, “Be Kind Rewind” forces you to look inward at all the reasons why you’re in this theater, watching this movie with a great big grin on your face.