Abgedreht (2008)
36KAbgedreht: Directed by Michel Gondry. With Jack Black, Yasiin Bey, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow. Two bumbling store clerks inadvertently erase the footage from all of the tapes in their video rental store. In order to keep the business running, they re-shoot every film in the store with their own camera, with a budget of zero dollars.
“Michel Gondryu0026#39;s new film is NO u0026quot;Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mindu0026quot;, but itu0026#39;s better than u0026quot;The Science of Sleepu0026quot; and doesnu0026#39;t deserve the negative reviews itu0026#39;s been getting. Without Charlie Kaufman writing, Gondryu0026#39;s script might be a little less original, but his visual creativity (no one else knows how to make art out of cardboard boxes like him!) and passion for his story makes u0026quot;Be Kind Rewindu0026quot; some kind of special.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMos Def and Jack Black work at Danny Gloveru0026#39;s video store and, after Black gets u0026quot;magnetizedu0026quot;, he unintentionally turns every tape in the store blank. They have the brilliant idea of remaking the customersu0026#39; favorite movies (from u0026quot;Driving Miss Daisyu0026quot; to u0026quot;Last Tango in Parisu0026quot;), and they suddenly become the local sensation. Some moments are very funny, others not so much, but this is not supposed to be a Farrelly Bros. kind of flick. With a simple but very compelling idea, Gondry created a story about peopleu0026#39;s love for movies, the sense of community, the compulsion for memories, the oblivion of old-time artists (the Fats Waller subplot) and old-fashioned technology (should Glover finally adhere to DVDs?). Gondry said in an interview: u0026quot;I am not against modern things. I use technology, but what I am against is when the technology creates a system that makes you believe you need to use itu0026quot;. I couldnu0026#39;t agree more. By the end, even though not being a masterpiece like u0026quot;Eternal Sunshineu0026quot;, u0026quot;Be Kind Rewindu0026quot; leaves you with the bittersweet feeling of other movies about our love for film-making, more notably u0026quot;The Purple Rose of Cairou0026quot; (by the way, Mia Farrow plays the video storeu0026#39;s most loyal customer) and u0026quot;Cinema Paradisou0026quot;. Definitely worth seeing. 8/10.”
