Be Kind Rewind (2008, USA)

I've always been a fan of the movie theater experience - it's not just the giant screen, the sound system, the popcorn; it's the communal experience. Some of my best college memories involve waiting in line on opening night with a group of friends. It felt like everyone you knew was somewhere in that line, and I think there certainly were some times (Star Wars: Episode I, Eyes Wide Shut) when half the school descended on a particular theater over the course of a weekend. That's the kind of movie experience that Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind strives for - the ways in which a movie can bring people together like few other public art forms do. It's also about myth-making, and how though movies are ostensibly private property (a point made more and more often these days), so many people feel a sense of ownership towards them all the same.

The bummer is that Gondry's writing isn't up to snuff - it's a charming idea, how two lovable losers bring a community together through a shared love of film, but while the execution of the "sweeded" movies is creative, the wraparound plot is a snoozer. Be Kind is yet another version of the tired "let's put on a show to save the family _____" that doesn't have any bite to it at all. I wish Gondry had had either the sense or the humility to hire a writing partner for this project. It would have really helped do justice to a movie that is so obviously in love with the form.