be kind rewind

sentimental it might be, but that does not make ‘be kind rewind’ less smart, or less moving. in fact the fuzzy warmth is able to stay away from spielbergian cuteness by just being more real and that is something in a plot that reads like a madman’s fantasy. it would have been easy to let this rather oddball story of a man whose magnetic head erases all the videotapes in a video store, and when him and his friend are forced to remake all the films for the customers, into an adam sandler bumbling idiot trash film- or what passes for comedy in hollywood. instead the film is a lovable, witty and brilliant homage to cinema as an integral part of the everyday lives and the imaginations of ordinary people. film as folk art, as a handmade quilt assembled out of very ingeniously reinvented and recreated parts with the rough edges not merely shown, but displayed in full glory. the actors play famous parts with the glee of playacting children by donning costumes made by assembling readymade, reused, recycled objects. the makeshift madness continues with free flowing inventive rough handcrafted ‘special effects’ from famous films. perhaps the film can be read as being a little too romantic about the ‘loss’ of the tacky analog and suspicious of the digital. but i thought not. it seemed to be addressing more the way that technology can enable us all to be artists. a call for a ‘democratic’ art. youtube? towards the end of the film, cinema is used to invent a glorious history to save the neighbourhood from gentrification. “its our history- we can do what we want with it.” what a good film!