Chi non sente la mancanza delle VHS?  Bè, le videocassette appartengono al nostro passato ma con tutte le loro piccole scomodità rendevano la visione di un film un’ esperienza dall’esito incerto e unico. Essì perchè ,oltre all’obbligo di riavvolgere il nastro,  la temibile smagnetizzazione era sempre in agguato e periodicamente perdevamo i pezzi pregiati delle nostre collezioni vintage. Ma a nessuno è mai venuto in mente di sostituire i vecchi nastri rovinati con dei piccoli remake self-made, idea che invece è venuta ai protagonisti di Be Kind Rewind che fanno del maroccamento un’ arte.

Non a caso il regista è un certo Gondry (chettelodicoafare)che ha fatto della creatività il motivo dominante dei suoi film (vedi anche L’Arte del Sogno) e della sua esistenza e anche qui nel rifacimento di piccoli e grandi capolavori del cinema da sfogo a tutto il suo estro. E allora anche noi ci possiamo sentire dei piccoli registi e ,realizzando improbabili effetti scenici, sfidare le mega produzioni hollywodiane, perchè no?!

☺☺☺☺☺

Alla prossima pillola!

For en stund siden så jeg en film som var en snodig blanding av vittig-sær og komplett tåpelig.
Filmen heter Be kind rewind, og mye av handlingen er så dum at jeg ikke gidder å gjengi den. (Men dere husker “vennligst spol tilbake”? Siden jeg er en gammel dame i en ung kropp blir jeg nostalgisk varm om hjertet av slikt. Spoling, telefoner med tallskive, “du godeste”, “søren klype”, “slyngler” og andre gammelmodige uttrykk. Det fortjener egentlig en egen post. Men tilbake til filmen. Eller musikken.)

Fine Mr. Fletcher eier en videobutikk, hvor jazzens Fats Waller angivelig skal ha blitt født. Og grunnen til at dette blir tidenes korteste filmomtale er at Mr. Fletcher og Fats Waller omtrent er det eneste gode jeg har å si om filmen – men jeg er til gjengjeld veldig glad for at jeg så den. Jeg har fått mange fine kvelder med Ain’t misbehavin’ og andre i bakgrunnen. Så værsågod.

Digamos que fue una coincidencia: este fin de semana arrendé (sin saber bien de qué trataba la trama) “What just happened?” y “Rebobinados”. La primera la elegí porque en la portada salía De Niro y, hasta donde recuerdo, él nunca me ha decepcionado. La segunda la quería ver desde hace un tiempo, sustentándome en la idea de que iba a reír mucho al amparo de Jack Black. Fortuitamente arrendé dos películas que trataban un mismo tema: la crítica a la fórmula hollywoodense de hacer cine. Casualmente las dos no me gustaron del todo en cuanto a su narración, pero, sin embargo, estoy de acuerdo en cada una de sus motivaciones y manifiestos. “Rebobinados”, por su parte, es demasiado lenta para ser una comedia y carece de dinamismo… quizá intencionalmente con  afán de salirse del molde. A pesar de que a los espectadores graves y criticones nos gustaría haber podido modificar de alguna manera el guión de este tipo de películas, hay que decir que da gusto ver que el cine se da el tiempo para reflexionar sobre sí mismo y se burla, llora y ríe a carcajadas en torno a lo que ha llegado a ser. Estas dos creaciones en cuestión nos dejan un sabor amargo a nostalgia cuando terminan, pero también nos abren una ventana en cuanto a lo que nos ofrece el arte audiovisual de ahora en adelante. Es urgente dejar los manuales de escritura de guiones y demases y volcarse hacia dentro de la naturaleza humana, que es donde brotan y nacen las verdaderas historias, las que permanecen en el tiempo y nos dejan un aroma a infinito. Coincidencia o no, hay que saber leer en cómo se tejen los hechos cotidianos.

This was an odd film, and I’m not entirely sure I liked it. A lot of things about it just seemed… awkward. That’s about the best way to describe it. Not natural, not quirky, just awkward, more notably that girl that joins them in the movie shooting and mia farrow’s character. And the weird old-timey clips which didn’t seem to fit in until the end. Then of course they worked, but until we reach the end we don’t know that they worked, so the idea is kind of lost.
The actual movies themselves were hilarious to see getting filmed, mostly because i can picture me and my friends doing the exact same thing. And Jack Black was quite funny as usual. Still, the good parts contrasted with the bad parts makes this just average.

7/10

Tanmoy Goswami presents a primer on the relationship between culture and memory.

“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” Thus spake Milan Kundera in The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. It is common currency that memory is the most powerful tool of cultural transmission in traditional societies that have undergone centuries of repression. Take the Caribbeans or Native Indians for instance. It is largely through generations of storytelling and oral mythmaking that these communities managed to keep alive a coherent sense of their past, free from the self-centred narratives of their colonial masters. For each Eurocentric version of their history, there is a voice like that of the Nobel Prize-winning poet Derek Walcott, which reclaims that history and creates room for it in the mainstream. Naturally, most of this tension is located in the arts, in a Guernica by Picasso or a Beloved by yet another Noble laureate, Toni Morrison.

The struggle between memory and forgetting, between transcendence and cultural erasure, is now finding alternative battlegrounds, and sadly, the battle is turning out to be rather lopsided. How else does one view the mass closure of single-screen theatres around the world? Why go around the world though? Mumbai, the capital of all things filmy in India, alone saw the decommissioning of 49 single-screens in the five years leading up to 2007. It did not help that while these dinosaurs of cinema reeled under a 44 per cent entertainment tax, a municipal tax based on the number of viewers, a 12 per cent education tax, a 15 per cent road tax and a variable property tax, the government serenaded investors in multiplexes by offering a slew of tax breaks.

The onslaught of modernity has not affected single-screen theaters alone. London’s iconic music venue, The Astoria, was sold in June 2006 for £23.75mn, allegedly to free up space for a complex of shops, flats and offices and to cash in on the real estate boom before the 2012 London Olympics. Opened as a cinema in 1927, The Astoria was converted into an exclusive concert hall in 1976 and hosted gigs by Nirvana, Radiohead, Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam and Oasis among a constellation of others. Part of London lore, The Astoria’s demise is a classic case of how a myopic agenda of development can deal a death blow to cultural memory. Savi Munjal, former lecturer at the Delhi University and current student resident at Leeds and London, says “I pass The Astoria quite often and there’s nothing but a scaffolding there. Many people who arrived in London after January 2009 (which is when the venue was finally shut down), myself included, have never seen a gig in it and will never know why the old-timers are so emotional about it.”
Back to Bollywood, Madhuri Dixit’s 2007 comeback film Aaja Nachle may not have busted the charts, but it did raise a meaningful point about a fictitious poor Indian cousin of The Astoria, the Ajanta Theatre in the small UP town of Shamli. To its credit, Aaja Nachle did not confine itself to exploring the angst of the theatre employees and patrons, but also made a case for public participation in cultural performances using the venue as a melting pot.  No matter how ‘comfortable’ our futuristic multiplexes are, they will never allow the kind of silly amateur stage-shows an Ajanta can effortlessly call its own, bringing people closer in the process.

So when Ry Cooder and Wim Wenders make a movie named after an obscure Cuban music club and resurrect a band of musicians hurled into oblivion by Fidel Castro’s regime, it resonates at a level that far exceeds its immediate cultural milieu. When Buena Vista Social Club (1999) opened to international acclaim, many an embittered soul was offended that it took two (white) Westerners to give Cuban  music its due. Isn’t that an utterly irrelevant question though in relation to what a movie like this manages to achieve? Michel Gondry would agree. After all, it took the ghost and a fake biography of the long-forgotten Black American Jazz performer, Fats Waller, to salvage community pride in the Western town of Passaic. For those on whom this reference is lost: Be Kind, Rewind.

Published in UTV Woeld Movies Magazine, Oct 09 issue (a companion piece to the cover feature on Buena Vista Social Club)

I és que la pel·lícula que ens ocupa eleva l’expressió del drugo Alex DeLarge (La Naranja Mecánica) a un nou significat.

Be Kind Rewind (títol original de Rebobine por favor) és el nom d’ un decrèpit establiment de compra i lloguer de videos, un reducte del format VHS en l’era digital, on passen la major par del temps dos joves amics, Mike (Mos Def) y Jerry (Jack Black). Mentre el primer és un responsable treballador sempre pendent del propietari, el senyor Fletcher, el segon és un individu com a mínim peculiar, histriònic i clarament paranoic.  Conseqüencia d’una de les seves excentricitats, totes les cintes delvideoclub es borren, precisament quan el negoci està fent fallida i s’enfronta a l’embarg.  In extemis, Jerry y Mike trobaran per  pura casualitat la solució als problemes econòmics del local en les “suecadas”, segons ells, versions de les pel·lícules hollywoodianes vingudes de Suècia.

Les “suecades” en realitat no són res més que curtmetratges amateurs protagonitzats  per ells mateixos, rodades en temps rècord amb ínfims recursos i deudores dels efectes especials i els trucs de montatge més rudimentaris. Aquestes mini-pel·lícules dins de Rebobine por favor esdevenen paròdies delirants que segur que entendriran el cor de cinèfils de tota classe i condició i aconseguiran arrancar-los una riallada.

Així doncs, en la pel·lícula es succeiexen constants homenatges al cine, cadascun més eixelebrat que l’anterior, tots ells fàcilment reconeixibles per l’espectador mig, com Los Cazafantasmas, King Kong o 2001: Una Odisea del Espacio. Resulta significatiu que arrel de la pel·lícula, gent arreu del món hagi decidit rodar i penjar a llocs com Youtube la seva pròpia versió d’una pel·lícula, la seva versió “suecada”. 

Rebobine, por favor resulta, en definitiva, un exercici cinematogràfic ambiciós però a la vegada senzill en l’execució. Si més no, si alguna qualitat se li ha de reconèixer és la de semblar un film sense pretensions malgrat la afortunada i fulgurant carrera del director, Michel Gondry.  Després de la fita que va suposar la seva estranyament commovedora  ¡Olvídate de mí! Gondry aconsegueix arribar a l’espectador com pocs contemporanis ho saben fer,  ja no a través d’una atípica història d’amor entre dues persones inusuals, sinó a través d’una declaració d’amor al cine universal. Veig en Rebobine, por favor la metàfora del etern encant que suposa el què és vell i la violència amb què es succeix el què és nou (VHS davant de DVD, sofisticació davant d’esponteneïtat amateur, establiments familiars davant de Blockbusters amb més crispetes i Pepsis que bon cine). En definitiva, i almenys pel què respectea a mi, Rebobine por favor no pot sinó inspirar simpatia, com ho solen fer les històries que tracten sobre gent ordinària abastant l’extraordinari.

Comedia ptotagonizada por Jack Black, donde un viejo videoclub lucha por sobrevivir entre la modernidad del dvd y la orden de desalojo para construir un flamante edificio. Debido a una excusa argumental(nada creible) un empleado del local junto a un amigo deben volver a “grabar” las cintas vhs con los clásicas películas protagonizadas por ellos mismo. Es así, como “filman” los cazafantasmas, una pareja explosiva y muchas más, sin mas presupuesto que el amor al cine y al viejo videoclub del barrio donde han vivido toda su vida.

Dirigida por Michael Gondry, la cinta es un homenaje al Cine (o al vhs) y a la comunidad que se forma en los barrios donde se ha vivido por muchos años. ***

In Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind, Jack Black gets magnetized and ruins all the VHSs when he visits his friend at the film rental shop where he works. Then, in an effort to fix things up, they produce short video clips, which they name sweded movies, and place them as regular movies in the shop. The idea is good, but unfortunately I cannot say the same about the movie itself.

In any case, the youtube community adopted the idea some time ago and posted some pretty funny sweded versions of movies most of us have seen. You can see a couple of them below (Terminator 2 is my favorite):

Destul de dragut filmul. Desi nu prea am ras la el, mi-a placut cum incercau ei sa recreeze ceva filme dupa capu lor.

Trailer:

Info: Cinemagia.ro, IMDB.com

Torrent name: Be.Kind.Rewind[2008]DvDrip-aXXo

Download subtitrare: Subs.ro

Tonight we venture into the world of alternative European cinema.  The Science of Sleep is one of the most inventive films to have come out in the last decade and exhibits the skill and range of director Michel Gondry.   Before you start to think that FilmWipe is venturing into a world that is too obscure and unobtainable to the average cinema goer it is worth mentioning that the film made almost double its budget and provided a platform for Gondry to create the excellent and popular Be Kind Rewind and has led to the films stars such as Gael Garcia Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg developing huge international careers.

The film follows Stephanie (Gael Garcia Bernal) as he moves to Paris following his father death in Mexico in order to become close to his Mum.  His mum tricks him into getting a job at a calendar company, he believes this will allow him to express his creativity but only compounds his frustration as he is forced to do menial and depressing work.  During this time he falls in love with next door neighbour Stephanie (as you might have guessed the film explores the hilarious coincidence that both its leads share the same name on a regular basis).  However all is not right with poor old Stephanie (I mean the man not the girl) as he has a problem between distinguishing reality from his dreams.  This leads to him regularly believing he is dreaming while in fact messing up his real world.

As you can tell the plot line is a little contrived.  Often it is hard to distinguish what is real and what is fake.  At times this is quite pleasant as Gondry suddenly surprises you with something that indicate that this is a dream world.  The most iconic example of this is a scene where Stephanie believes he has got incredibly large hands (a reoccurring nightmare of Gondry himself) and runs around the office of the calendar company destroying everything in his path.  Moments like this are excellent and propel the film forward into something really quite special.  However, when it fails it does so in a huge way.  An example of this is during the relationship of Stephanie and Stephanie.  At times you become so lost you genuinely have no idea of what is going on.  Unfortunately it is moment like this which really take away from the film, as the narrative becomes so confused the film becomes something similar to a Dan Brown novel where you have to use a series of cryptic symbols to identify what you’re watching.

Having said that Gondry expertly directs the film.  The scenes generally flow on from each other with each on becoming more inventive and interesting for its audience.  The props, backgrounds and overall cinematography are ground breaking.  Gondry  skilfully weaves elements of animation with live action to convey the sense of a dream like state.  Probably his greatest achievement is creating something that feels so natural that the audience feels very little is out place however outlandish.

As mentioned at the beginning the film has wonderful performances.  Bernal put in a career defining performance as Stephanie.  He makes Gondry’s complex character accessible and appealing.  By the end of the film you genuinely feel sorry for him and his plight.  While he is exceptionally it is Charlotte Gainsbourg who at times steals the show.  Her character is wonderfully weird but in a very different way to Bernal’s.  At times you don’t understand her at others you don’t like her.  It is testament to her measured performance that Bernal seems as weird as he does as she creates the perfect foil for his eccentricity.  While Bernal has gone on to bigger and better things, it is only Gainsbourg’s performance in Antichrist that has exhibited her immense talent.

Overall – This is not the most accessible film for audiences.  However if given time it is like a fine wine and will mature into an experience that will set your creative juices going.  If your watching with children or idiots I recommend skipping to the cardboard police car chase an unquestionable highlight.

8/10

This is a video that i had to make for a University project. We had to act out a scene from a movie in the style of the movie Be Kind Rewind with Jack Black. We shot it on a digital camera to give it a pixelated look and to make the sound quality worse than if we had shot it on a Mini DV camcorder and we also did the titles on a piece of paper and held it in front of the camera. We then did the soundtrack by recording our voices onto a phone and importing the file into the video. Here is the link to the video on youtube.

Be Kind Rewind Video

favorite part! music! 아주 잘 듣는다면 dos ta cos! hahaha

Be Kind Rewind Sweded Trailer ! I just realized that it’s Michael Gondry playing ALL the parts!
That’s He-freaking-larious !

엠티비. 이건 ray parker .jr 으하하. 옛날이 참 멋있어. bobby brown의 킥댄싱이라던지 jackson5의 라이브
marvin gaye, luther vandross 들의 피아노반주와 우렁찬 노래 또 blondie의 call me 으아 끝이 없어. 잘래

I’ve been hearing a lot of stuff about Mos Def recently. A lot of good stuff actually. Not stuff like Mos is working on Be Kind Rewind 2: rewind harder, or 16 Blocks 2: 32 blocks, or anything like that. Rather, it’s stuff that proves he’s getting his musical sense back.

First, the guys over at Real Frequency were interviewing Diddy (still not sure why. Maybe Hammer was booked?) and a lot of their talk revolved around Mos’ album, The Ecstatic, being album of the year. I’m not sure I would agree with the album of the year tag, but it’s definitely been getting constant rotation at my house and I’m having a hard time coming up with one better right now. It’s still not as good as Black on Both Sides, or even The New Danger, but maybe people are just happy he’s back to form after the rushed mess of an album that was True Magic.

I’m also hearing a lot about how amazing he’s been live this year (he did a really cool version of Quiet Dog on Letterman), which is disappointing because I caught him at Rock the Bells in Toronto and he definitely was not amazing. In his defence he was booked last minute after Common dropped out and they didn’t even have his music (guess they never heard of downloading) so it was a hodge podge act of randomness until Talib Kweli came out and more than saved it with some nostalgic Black Star tracks.

Then of course there is this trailer of him working with Damon Dash and the Black Keys (among others) on a project called BlackRoc that looks like it’s going to be amazing when it drops November 27.

But the most interesting thing is definitely something that came out of an interview with Filter about how he is working on a documentary about a band of black punk rockers from Detroit, circa 1971, called Death, and how they were the originators of the punk sound. I think it’s fair to say that Mos’ mission in life is to prove that black musicians were at the forefront of every musical movement in the history of the universe.

“These dudes were pre-Sex Pistols, pre-Bad Brains, pre-all that shit, and nobody knows them,” he said.

And clearly Mos didn’t know about them either when he penned “Rock n Roll,” a song that sounds like it could be played during the closing credits of his documentary: (Elvis Presley ain’t got no soul / Bo Diddley is rock and roll / You may dig on the Rolling Stones / But they ain’t the first place the credit belongs).

Mos definitely has a case for Death being innovators of punk though, with even the New York Times arguing the case back in March.

So there is definitely a lot of stuff to look forward to from Mos, but let’s just hope that unlike his tribute to Fats Waller in Be Kind Rewind, the Death documentary isn’t “sweded.” And since the only way to see Mos Def as Fats Waller is to actually watch the movie (since I can’t find a clip of it anywhere), which I highly discourage, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

“be kind, rewind” is a very interesting movie, taking you from “these guys are amateurs” and “what’s the point” to “this is genius”. Combining the amateur genius with the normal human life, this movie brings to life the banality of our daily life – why not create your own movie for u and your friends to enjoy!

Writer/director Michel Gondry is known for his visually stylistic music videos, advertising spots and films. He will often shoot stop-motion, but rather than using animation, he will use miniature sets made from different art media such as Legos. He has also written and drawn his own comic books. Through his website, Michel Gondry.com, you can purchase a personalized portrait sketched and autographed by him. Clicking the appropriate links from his site, a user is rerouted to Flickr.com and can view the numerous sketches of he made of his fans.

Gondry shot his film Be Kind, Rewind, in two weeks in the town of Passaic, New Jersey. The notion behind this film was to make a low-budget film using the scenery and the people of this town, as well as make a social commentary on how history is often overlooked but is essential part of a community. By using a narrative plot in which the two protagonists have to remake numerous films after the VHS in a rental store have been accidentally erased. As the demand for these quirky remakes escalates, the two men solicit help from members of their community. As the plot thickens, the community assembles to help save the site of the rental store, which itself is the historic landmark of jazz musician, Fats Waller (information which Wikipedia claims to be untrue).

The films are dubbed as “Sweded,” as in “they are a rare type of video that comes from a faraway, expensive country.” Since the protagonists are filming these remakes themselves, there are a limited number of movies that they can shoot in one day. Even the hardest of the town’s thugs enjoy these movies and end up watching films they wouldn’t have otherwise seen and, naturally, learn life lessons from these narratives. When the Sweded project grows too large, the protagonists encourage the community to Swede their own favorite movies and to make an original biopic of Fats Waller’s life in a meaningful story of their town.

Sweding (the act of making a Sweded film) is a way of inviting a fan into the authoring of a pre-existing narrative. First of all, Gondry is paying homage to the original film narratives by including them in his film. Secondly, the film sets up specific guidelines when a character wants a film Sweded: it has to be low budget, the film has to be made within the last 30 years, and it has to be kept between eight and ten minutes in length. Herein lies the opportunity for fans of Be Kind, Rewind to create their own Sweded film. As a promotional tie-in to the movie, there was a website in which fan-made Sweded movies were hosted. Even though this site is no longer active, this concept of Sweding has produced a YouTube channel dedicated to Sweded television shows, various websites hosting Sweded films, and an annual Sweded Film Festival held in Fresno.  Some of the sites that host Sweded movies are swededcinema.com, swededfilms.com, and swededmovies.org.  Gondry has also made a book, You’ll Like This Movie Because You’re in It: The Be Kind, Rewind Protocol, that discusses ” the appropriative and participatory practice ’sweding,’ which is to say, ‘putting you into the things you like’” (quote from editoral note on Amazon).

While the actual film, Be Kind, Rewind is a comedy, Gondry is also making a social commentary about the media industry in large and how, in this era of digitalization, it is hard to keep the fan at bay and by doing so, effectively eliminates today’s audience – which is an interactive one. Retelling/co-authoring and re/co-creating narratives is a way in which to keep storytelling interactive and even if it is something as silly as Sweding a film, it creates a space for community, human interaction, and the exchange of ideas.

Non voglio parlare ancora di film, per lo meno non voglio dirvi “solo” che ho visto molti film belli di recente, tra cui anche Be Kind Rewind diretto dal visionario regista francese Michel Gondry.

Salta la trama se non la vuoi leggere!

Spoilerone:
Jerry (PEEK YRREJ TUO viene elettrizzato dopo un fallimentare assalto alla cetrale elettrica, ed entrando nel video-store del sig. Fletcher smagnetizza tutti i VHS. Con Mike –che teneva aperto il negozio in assenza del proprietario in “viaggio d’affari”– decidono di “maroccare” i film che, inaspettatamente, hanno un successo clamoroso nel quartiere, anche più degi originali! Con i guadagni, se le case filmografiche non si fosero accorte, avrebbero potuto salvare il palazzo dove è nato il famoso jazzista Fats Waller (non è vero, ma questo permette alla fine di realizzare un film veramete “originale” che…).

Come stavo dicendo ho avuto l’occasione di vedere questo strano film, ma non avevo capito subito che il regista fosse proprio l’autore del “doppio DVD–perché se il lavoro non piacesse, almeno rimane la quantità”. Ho iniziato ad avere il sospetto che dietro la macchina da presa ci fosse proprio Gondy, dopo aver visto la sequenza in cui taroccano i film che le persone richiedono: è un lungo e complesso piano–sequenza in cui i vari attori interpretano simultaneamente tutti i film, passando da inquadrature orizzontali alle “false” verticali (clamoroso l’esempio in cui il palazzo su cui è arrampicato King Kong in realtà è orizzotale).

Tecniche e stratagemmi di questo tipo erano gia state messe in atto in molti dei suoi videoclip che avevo studiacchiato al tempo della tesi del 3° anno.

Qui una lista dei vari videoclip girati dal regista (non tutti sono visibili, ma per internet non è un problema).

Tanto per darvi una ulteriore idea, eccovi lo stesso trailer iniziale “maroccato” proprio dal regista stesso!

Ma quanto si diverte questo qua?

L’ultima chicca, poi smetto, promesso!

Comunque… vi piacerà questo film, perché ci siete dentro!

Mr. Sparky had yet another role in a Shoreline sweded film, this time a far more major role.  In the sweded version of O Brother, Where Art Thou? he plays the compelling character of Delmar, the half-witted but benign prison escapee.  I’m sure this role will be a springboard into greater things once Hollywood gets wind of it.  Or a lawsuit.  Who can say at this point?

There’s a movie star living in my house.  Two weeks ago Mr. Sparky had a small but emotionally powerful role in the Sweded version of Groundhog Day.  If you’re not familiar with Sweded movies, you probably haven’t seen the movie Be Kind, Rewind.  It’s a fairly awful movie, but the basic idea of a Sweded movie is pretty hilarious.  It simply means remaking a movie by re-filming its highlights in as low-tech of a manner as possible, in order to elevate the Velveeta Factor to the highest possible level.

Here you can see Mr. Sparky starring as Ned Flanders.

And if you thought THAT was good (or bad), be sure to read the next post!

Valió la pena la espera? Totalmente. Aunque bien lejos de mi casa, estrenaron por fin Be Kind Rewind, la última peli de Michel Gondry. Peli que absurdamente fue estrenada el 25 de enero del 2008 en Sundance y que tan sólo después de veinte meses por fin los discapacitados distribuidores colombianos se atrevieron a traerla. Muchos amigos míos ya la habían visto en DVD, pero yo quise esperar a verla en salas aunque casi desespero y hace un par de semanas en la tienda de video de unos amigos casi la alquilo. Menos mal no. Recomendada para verse ciento por ciento en cine.

Es una peli romántica, amante del cine, amante de los nostálgicos así estos sean amantes del gran enemigo del cine: El VHS, siempre y cuando se le reconozca que gracias a estos videos caseros el cine se volcó hacia el usuario y le fue accesible la producción de pelis, que al final es la quintaesencia de esta peli: No hay mejores pelis que las que uno hace.

No se cuántos de los que fueron a ver la peli, antes ya habían visto el paquete de directores en DVD, donde aparecen Chris Cunningham, Spike Jonze y Michel Gondry pero fue allí donde me vine a enterar que Gondry era músico y mago. Una rara combinación que ilumina de alguna forma cómo es que Gondry resuelve sus retos y como es que su estética es un poco muy lúdica y pedagógica; como un mago de fiesta de cumpleaños de niños. Tal vez lo más bonito de esta peli es eso, descubrir que el man hizo una peli de cómo el hace una peli, de cómo el se imagina las narraciones, de cómo improvisa para meterle nuevos elementos a sus producciones y de cómo es un niño chiquito con una cámara de cine en su hombro.

Y es que sólo hasta que vi el DVD de los directores me vine a enterar que Gondry era músico y mago e iluminar de cierta forma cómo es que el resuelve los retos de cada producción pero también lo impresionante es que por esa misma calidad se siente esa escencia de lúdica y magia en cada cosa que el hace. Un mago de esos cumpleaños ochenteros donde hay un bajísimo prespuesto pero de alguna forma tiene encantado a su público. Ese es el resumen de esta encantadora y emotiva peli, un acto de magia de una genial recursividad y aunque de un presupuesto considerable con todas las características primordiales de una serie b.

No importa que Jack Black sea siempre Jack Black, no importa que los actores naturales sean muy malos actores, no importa que Mos Def, Danny Glover y Mia Farrow actúen como si estuvieran en un ensayo teatral. Tal vez la única que ligra una actuación medianamente regular es Sigourney Weaver pero hace el papel de mala, entonces una la odia, pero sólo la odia hasta la final de la peli, después uno la vuelve a querer por ser ella. Es una obra maestra. Debo decirlo, para ser honestos con ustedes yo salí detestando a Gondry y su La Science des Rêves y de alguna forma dije, Gondry es un genio para los videos de Björk o para los videos de Oui Oui, The Chemical Brothers, The White Stripes, pero para los largos, las pelis debía tener un socio como Charlie Kaufman, aquel Kaufman que le brindó esa sociedad magnífica para lograr Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind que en 2004 les valió un Oscar de La Academia como mejor guión original.

Esta peli, la historia de dos amigos, soñadores, bohemios y amantes de las historias que Elroy Fletcher el personaje que interpreta Danny Glover, estos dos personajes melomanos de Fats Weller, estos dos personajes llenos de ternura y gracia me hicieron reír mucho. Me atrevo a inventarme un nuevo género para esta peli, porque no es una simple comedia, tiene que ver con cine de autor, si, pero es más que eso es una Comedia Épica, una comedia de magnánimas proporciones. Una peli que devolvió a Gondry a un puesto que había perdido años atrás en mi escalafón personal.

Muy buena peli.

Muy recomendada para los amantes del cine.

De vez en cuando, hay notas para destacar para esta peli la genialidad es tan basta que no se por donde siquiera empezar con esas notas.

El término “sweded” se acotó popularmente después de la peli de Gondry a las parodias que se hacían de muchas pelis. En la peli se usa el término para explicar que las pelis eran traídas desde Suecia, que por eso se demoraban tanto y que por eso eran tan costosas en alquiler pero verdaderamente era una excusa para rehacerla y que no se notara su pérdida. Si uno revisa juicioso, se encuentra en YouTube.com muchos videos de este porte. Algunas son bastante entretenidas otras son basura. Gondry hizo una cosa maravillosa para el sitio promocional de la peli y es que montó todos sus swedes y se podían ver enLínea a continuación rescato dos de ellos:

.

.

La otra nota divertida es la música de esta peli, ecléctica, sencilla pero con mucho sentimiento:

.

01. “Your Feets Too Big” – Mos Def y Jean-Michel Bernard

02. “Nothing From Nothing” – Billy Preston

03. “I Ain’t Got Nobody” – Jean-Michel Bernard

04. “Jerry’s Sweded Ghost Song” – Jack Black

05. “Microwaves – Jean-Michel Bernard

06. “Train Station” – Jean-Michel Bernard

07. “I Ain’t Got Nobody” – Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn y Michel Gondry

08. “Keep Jerry Our“- Jean-Michel Bernard

09. “Little Mikey“- Jean-Michel Bernard

10. “I’m Bill“- Jean-Michel Bernard

11. “Lulu’s Back In Town” – Jean Michel Bernard y The Passaic High School Marching Band

12. “Chinese Bamboo“- Jean-Michel Bernard

13. “Magnetic“- Jean-Michel Bernard

14. “The Animated Lion“- Jean-Michel Bernard

15. “I Ain’t Got Nobody” – Mos Def, Jean-Michel Bernard y Michel Gondry

16. “Robot Karate“- Jean-Michel Bernard

17. “Daisy’s Drive“- Jean-Michel Bernard

18. “Plan“- Jean-Michel Bernard

19. “Blind Test“- Jean-Michel Bernard

20. “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” – Fats Waller

21. “Mike Has An Idea“- Jean-Michel Bernard

22. “DVD Break In“- Jean-Michel Bernard

23. “Sunny Monday” – Booker T y the MGs

24. “Ain’t Misbehavin‘” – Mos Def y Jean-Michel Bernard

25. “Solitude” – Jean-Michel Bernard

26. “Lulu’s Back In Town” – Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn y Michel Gondry

27. “Your Feets Too Big” – Fats Waller

28. “Mr. Fletcher’s Song” – Jean-Michel Bernard y Moe Holmes

]]> http://ctcmr.com/2009/09/15/be-kind-rewind-2008/ Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:01:03 +0000 Aiden R http://ctcmr.com/2009/09/15/be-kind-rewind-2008/

VERDICT:
8/10 Homemade Remakes

One of my favorite movies of ‘08. Might not be for everyone, but it’s worth the payoff for those who stick with it.

Be Kind Rewind is about two endearing simpletons in a downbeat area of New Jersey that are put in charge of what might be the last mom-and-pop video store on Earth that only rents out VHS tapes. But as is usually the case when simpletons are placed in seats of power, one of them turns into a human magnet due to a freak encounter with a power transformer and he unintentionally erases all the VHS movies in the store. Their solution: Swede the erased movies.

What?

Right. Instead of re-buying all the VHS tapes, they decide to “Swede” all the movies that people want to see, an inverted term which means they grab a video camera and film themselves re-enacting the best parts of some of history’s greatest movies like Ghost Busters, Robocop, and Boyz ‘N the Hood among others. The finished product looks something like a CliffsNotes version of a fourth-grader’s extra credit project, but it’s absolutely hilarious.

It goes from being a movie with a weird premise to a story about community and the power of film in bringing people together. The Sweding stint goes from a temporary solution to a town-wide phenomenon that brings everyone together to tell each others’ stories and marvel in each others’ lives.

The first half-hour is pretty slow and kinda strange, but once the Sweding starts up, I couldn’t wipe the ear-to-ear grin off my face. And that’s the great thing about Michel Gondry movies, I feel like they’re always aimed at celebrating the extraordinary in everyday life and making our wildest imaginations a physical reality. It actually reminds me a lot of Dave Chappelle’s Block Party which he directed a while back, and even though it doesn’t feel like a Gondry movie from a visual standpoint, it also captures this overwhelming notion that life is good and everyone in the theater, everyone on screen, and everyone behind the camera are all here to enjoy it.

As you watch everyone on-screen get involved, you can’t help but feel involved yourself. It makes you want to go pick up that video camera that’s been collecting dust in your closet, call up your friends, and Swede your own movie that you can laugh your ass off to.

And as for the acting, Jack Black and Mos Def are solid choices. I feel like Mos Def has yet to really make a name for himself, but when it comes to rappers turned legitimate actors, he might be at the top of a very short list. And I think Jack Black is just a funny bastard in general. I’m sure some people will disagree with me, but whatever, dude’s a riot; there’s a guy I’d love to hang out with. Danny Glover, Mia Farrow, and Sigourney Weaver also have bit roles and they’re all good, too. So that’s cool.

But going back to my previous point, Be Kind Rewind is just one of those movies that reminds you of the magic of going to the movies. It’s one hell of a feel-good movie and I highly recommend it, especially if you dig Gondry’s other works.

There’s a great quote by Quentin Tarantino that came about when someone asked him what his advice was to people who wanted to break into film making like he did, and his response was something along the lines of, “Go. Make. Movies. Don’t wait for someone to come along and pay you to do it, just grab a camera and make the movie you want to make, and if it’s good, people will notice.”

Good advice. I think Gondry and Tarantino are on to something here.

SIDE NOTE:
This site’s got some pretty awesome fan-made Sweded movies, you know, to give you an idea of what this whole Sweding thing’s all about.

Probably My Favorite Movie

The film “Forrest Gump” tells the story of a simple man’s life as a he journeys through an extraordinary period in America’s history. One of the film’s most memorable moments comes when Forrest is fighting in the Vietnam War. 

His platoon is under a heavy attack, and the troop decides the best thing to do is to run away. As anyone who has seen the movie remembers, if there is one thing Forrest Gump knows how to do, it’s run. Forrest runs so fast he escapes the heat of the battle unscarred. He soon realizes that none of his other soldiers are close behind him. The one true friend he has made in his time in the military, Bubba, did not make it out of the jungle with Forrest. So, he decides to go back looking for him. 

On his way to look for Bubba, Forrest sees another soldier hurt on the ground, unable to get himself out of the line of fire. Instead of worrying about his own life or about Bubba’s, Forrest picks the soldier up and runs him out of the jungle. Going back again to look for Bubba, Forrest finds another soldier and takes him out of the jungle as well. This happens over and over and over again as Forrest nearly saves his whole platoon by the time the scene is over. 

How would you describe Forrest Gump’s actions in this scene? Brave? Courageous? Unselfish? How about foolish?

That’s the best word I can come up with. Forrest was safely out of the warzone, but put himself back in danger over and over again to try and save men he had only known for a few weeks. He went back into the line of fire to look for Bubba, and he didn’t even know where Bubba was!

Some may call this an act of foolishness, on the surface we may all call this foolishness. But Jesus would not. What we see as foolishness, he sees as kindness.

We should all be so brave to act as foolishly as Forrest Gump did. We are presented everyday with opportunities to do so, to act kindly to others, but we rarely take these opportunities. These opportunities scare us. These opportunities challenge us to exit our comfort zones and to do something for someone else, putting our own self-interest on the backburner. This idea of unselfishness is antithetical to how most of society functions. 

Look at just about every reality tv show star. You can’t watch an episode of a reality show without hearing the famous line, “I didn’t come here to make friends.” People go on reality tv shows to make money and get ahead in life, and usually are willing to do so at the expense of others. And we see this attitude of selfishness not just on “The Apprentice” but in the real business world as well. Stopping to help someone else, when there is nothing of personal gain in the situation, is seen as foolish. 

If we are to follow God’s word, if we are to be the people he wants us to be, then we must not be afraid to act like a fool. 

We know that being the person God wants us to be means bearing fruit. It means being “loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, gentle, good, faithful, and self-controlled.” (Galatians 5:22-23) 

Kindness is one of the fruits of the spirit that we are called to exhibit. Exhibiting kindness, as Jesus shows, means doing things most people would find foolish. Jesus lays down an example for us all to follow in this story from near the end of his life in Matthew 26:6-13 (ESV):

Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at the table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

There is an obvious act of kindness in this story, but can you find another less obvious one?

Look closely. It’s in the first sentence of the passage: “Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper…”

Jesus wasn’t just hanging out at anyone’s house. He was hanging out with a leper. This was a tremendous act of foolishness in these times, and probably would still be one today. Lepers were seen as less than human in these days. Their flesh eating, deadly disease was highly contagious. Going anywhere near a leper in these times was a risk no person with any semblance of intelligence would take. 

Jesus was never one to live by the rules of society however. Jesus did not see this man, or any other person, as less than any other person. Jesus was not afraid to be seen as a fool for spending time with a leper, for touching them, for dining with them, for showing affection to them, or for healing them. What an awesome example to follow.

Of course, the woman who poured her perfume on Jesus was not afraid to look foolish either. The disciples reprimanded her for her actions, but Jesus saw what she did as the beautiful act that it was. The woman was offering all she had to Jesus, and we should do likewise. We may not have much, but we should lay it down at His feet for Him to use it any way He pleases.

If only we could be fearless enough to act this foolishly! What amazing examples of kindness for us to follow. Ultimately, our kindness should stem from the ultimate act of kindness that Jesus performed just a short time after this story, when He died for us. Ephesians 2:4-7 (ESV) puts it like this:

But God, being rich in mercy, becasue of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

The ultimate act of kindness, right? You could also call it the ultimate act of foolishness from another perspective. A perfect God, leaving the heavens to enter an imperfect body and join imperfect people to save them from their sins, knowing that they would reject Him and still choosing to die so that they could live. It doesn’t get any more foolish than that. And it doesn’t get any kinder than that either. 

Jesus acted kindly to us, and He wants us to follow His example. He wants us to be unafraid to look foolish. He wants us to offer up to Him all that we can offer. He wants us to give our all to others. 

http://images9.cafepress.com/product/167288649v1_150x150_Front.jpg

Being kind is involves giving our all. Bearing the fruit of kindness is doing more than what would normally be expected of you. Which is what frustrates me about this sticker, which anyone who used to rent VHS tapes will recognize. Video stores placed this stickers on every tape reminding customers to “be kind” and rewind the movie they rented before returning it.

That’s not kindness to me though. Kindness is more than rewinding a tape. Any decent human being ought to be able to hit a button and wait two minutes for a tape to rewind before returning it. Kindness is doing more than what is expected. Kindness is rewinding the tape and returning it and baking cookies for all the employees at the video store to give to them when you return the tape. 

Ok, that’s a bit ridiculous (perhaps it’s my old job as a Movie Gallery employee speaking), but you get the idea. Kindness is doing more than what is expected of you. Look around you this week for opportunities to be kind. Look for people to perform a random act of kindness on. Take up someone’s tray in the lunchroom without them asking you to do so. Let someone else out of the parking lot in a crowded traffic area. Don’t just pick up your clothes in your room. You ought to do that anyway. Do something more, like washing clothes when it’s not your turn to do so, or taking out the trash when it’s not your job, or helping someone out with their homework even if you don’t really have the time to do so. 

Do something this week that a “normal” person would think is foolish. Do something that on the surface you will not receive anything from. In the long run you will receive a great reward from thinking less about yourself and more about others. Do not be afraid to look foolish. Do not be afraid to be kind.

*LISTEN TO HammondCast HERE:

HammondCast 166 KYOU Radio Winter NAMM Show, Bernard Purdie with ARETHA FRANKLIN “Rock Steady”, “Reach Out and Touch Someone”, DANNY GLOVER and JON HAMMOND interview, LOUIS ARMSTRONG “What a Wonderful World”, JAMES BROWN “I’m Black and I’m Proud”, ROBERTA FLACK & DONNY HATHAWAY “You’ve Got A Friend”, Donny “Song For You” LYDIA PENSE & COLD BLOOD “It Could Be Me, It Could Be You”
© www.HammondCast.com

ASCAP Network Behind The Beat with Jon Hammond “LATE RENT”

Elmar Lemes photo of Jon Hammond playing XK-3 organ at Local 802 Monday Night Jazz Session sponsored by Jazz Foundation of America

Jon Hammond MySpace

HammondCast

ASCAP Network Behind The Beat “NDR SESSIONS Projekt”

Jon Hammond is an endorsed artist of Hammond Suzuki USA

Danny Glover in “Be Kind Rewind”

Bernard Purdie at Winter NAMM Show

Danny Glover, Be Kind Rewind, Bernard Purdie, Jon Hammond, B3 organ, XK-3c, XB-2, XK-1, NDR Jazz, Lydia Pense, Donny Hathaway, ASCAP Network, Suzuki, Blues, Soul, Accordion, HammondCast, Local 802

*LISTEN TO HammondCast HERE:

HammondCast 166 KYOU Radio Winter NAMM Show, Bernard Purdie with ARETHA FRANKLIN “Rock Steady”, “Reach Out and Touch Someone”, DANNY GLOVER and JON HAMMOND interview, LOUIS ARMSTRONG “What a Wonderful World”, JAMES BROWN “I’m Black and I’m Proud”, ROBERTA FLACK & DONNY HATHAWAY “You’ve Got A Friend”, Donny “Song For You” LYDIA PENSE & COLD BLOOD “It Could Be Me, It Could Be You”
© www.HammondCast.com

ASCAP Network Behind The Beat with Jon Hammond “LATE RENT”

Elmar Lemes photo of Jon Hammond playing XK-3 organ at Local 802 Monday Night Jazz Session sponsored by Jazz Foundation of America

Jon Hammond MySpace

HammondCast

ASCAP Network Behind The Beat “NDR SESSIONS Projekt”

Jon Hammond is an endorsed artist of Hammond Suzuki USA

Danny Glover in “Be Kind Rewind“

Bernard Purdie at Winter NAMM Show

Danny Glover, Be Kind Rewind, Bernard Purdie, Jon Hammond, B3 organ, XK-3c, XB-2, XK-1, NDR Jazz, Lydia Pense, Donny Hathaway, ASCAP Network, Suzuki, Blues, Soul, Accordion, HammondCast, Local 802

Jackson Bishop at Collider noticed something funny at Box Office Mojo. The release date for “The Green Hornet” had suddenly been pushed back (yet again) to Dec. 17, but with little in the way of explanation. So, Drew McWeeny at Hitfix decided to ask star Seth Rogen upfront about the jump, and we get a little confirmation and explanation from him in the process after the jump:

“We’re both relieved and psyched about the change.  It gives more time for post, which would have been immensely rushed if we were to come out in the summer.  It also affords us more time to promote the film, (now we can go to Comic-Con with more than a car!) and ultimately is a great vote of confidence from the studio.  We got the same date that movies like ‘I Am Legend’ and ‘Avatar’ are getting, so we’re thrilled to be there.”

Sounds good to me. As Jackson points out, the move from the previous July 7 date frees itself from landing in the middle of Cameron Diaz’s “Witchita” (July 2) and Nick Cage’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (July16), who both signed on to star in “Hornet” recently.

As I mentioned, this isn’t the first bump in the road for The Black Beauty and co.

Via IMDB:  Mirimax had tasked Kevin Smith to write and direct the film, but he pulled out due to the fact that the budget was much larger than he was used to. Eventually, Columbia Pictures purchased the rights and had Seth Rogen set to write and star. Stephen Chow was chosen to direct and star as Kato, The Green Hornet’s martial arts sidekick and driver, but he dropped out of directing and later starring. Finally, Michael Gondry was brought aboard to direct and he has been piecing the film back together ever since.

Gondry certainly brings alot to the table, having written and directed the excellent and critically acclaimed “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (93%) while also pulling double duty on “The Science of Sleep” (69%) and “Be Kind Rewind” (65%). However, none of these films are quite like a big-budget action film, so it should be interesting to see what Gondry does with “Hornet”.