Be Kind Rewind Review

 

        When talking about movies about making movies, Be Kind Rewind fits every single checkbox on this sub-genre. I fondly remember commercials of it back in the late 2000s, but never really thought much of it. I can’t state how much the YouTube channel Cinemassacre has exposed me to films that I want to watch and be aware of other type of films. You know the drill right now, SPOILERS.

1. Save the Block

        With most films, there’s a standard way of telling a story and this one has a specific plot. Specifically, saving the block or building. Jack Black and Mos Def play Mike and Jerry who live in Passaic, New Jersey. Mike works in the town’s video store while Jerry is a screwy conspiracy theorist. After one weird moment where Jerry attempts and fails to blow up an electric grid, he accidentally wipes out the store’s VHS library of tapes. 

        After one of the customer’s request to see a copy of Ghostbusters, Mike and Jerry attempt to shoot the movie the only way they can. Cheaply and to the point. Soon, the business starts to pick up and they make their own version of the films. This movie is a love letter for the people who make their own home movies. The way the guys shoot is just one take with haphazard special effects. They even invite some of the locals to be in their films. Unfortunately, the lawyers of the studios sues the store. Additionally, the building is being threatened by gentrification. 

        I like that the film isn’t solely about making enough films to save the building but making the home version of the films since it’s fun. It seems that the actors had fun making the reenactments of the films. I’ll go more in depth about this method of filming after this. As well as the just the idea of the long gone video store. Little did people know that the term “Be Kind Please Rewind” was an actual business method that video rentals like Blockbusters wanted their tapes to be rewound.

2. Swedeing 

        This term appears in the film. It basically means that someone or a group of people remade a film with no budget and in a quick and efficient way. This is the first film that quoted the term since it’s a unique thing to remake a film without a budget. Both the guys had to remake their VHS tapes since Mike was assigned by his manager Mr. Fletcher to look after the store. It was actually Jerry who convinced Mike to “Swede” the films since people were slowly coming into the store. 

        As of now, the method is still being used. Albeit with it mostly reenacting movie trailers of big blockbusters. That’s why when you subscribe to a comedy channel, they’d “swede” a movie trailer with nothing but cardboard and cheap special effects. Looking more into the movie’s background, the film’s website invited people to make their movies based on actual films. I haven’t watch those, but to make it more meta, the director “sweded” the Be Kind Rewind trailer.

        One of thing that I’ve noticed is that throughout the film, we see footage of an old documentary that is haphazardly shot. It details about the jazz musician Fats Waller. Such as seeing the actors in the documentary have fake mustaches and cardboard cars in the town’s street. I honestly thought that it was something that Mike filmed before working in the store and feeling ashamed of it. I won’t reveal what that documentary is used for, but it’s the most endearing thing about the movie.

3. Video Store

        I feel now that the video store is slowly becoming a fading concept that will be nostalgic. I don’t have fond memories of it, but it beats seeing a screen and just trying to find something to watch. It’s human I guess to just get lost and find a film or anything to watch for a weekend. The last time I was in a video rental store was in Austin, it’s not surprising since that place is a hot bed of pop culture. 

        In the film, it shows that the whole thing is a time capsule of something people used to do before the advent of streaming services. While yeah, only a few people visited and rented from the store, but as both Jerry and Mike filmed their versions of famous movies, people wanted to see their versions. And be involved with the filming process in some regards. 

4. Overall 

        This is one of those endearing films that I have seen in a while. It’s endearing and has a humbling feeling to it where it ends in a feelgood way. 

        Be Kind Rewind gets a four out of five.