Warning: this is less of review and more of reaction to themes in the film, so if that is no interest to you, just read the first two paragraphs.
I went from being incredibly excited to see this movie to somewhat hesitant after seeing a pile o' bad reviews (look, I don't base my tastes on critics', but their general consensus such as that found at Rotten Tomatoes is usually an accurate way to judge whether a movie is worth my time). I should have trusted my first instinct. While Michel Gondry may not be the greatest director in terms of putting together a fluid, hole-proof narrative, his visual style and effects are always incredible and enough reason to see whatever he does. But beyond that, his films have heart (which I feel is also expressed through his visual style).
I think most people who might read this have a general idea what the film is about, all the videos at a rental store are erased so an employee and his friend record their own "
sweded" versions on the now blank tapes. Unfortunately, the majority of the best comedic scenes were packed into the trailer, which is not to say it wasn't a funny movie, I just wish trailers would save some of the funnier lines and visual gags for the film itself. It is funny, but I think if you going into this looking to bust a gut laughing, you'll be a little disappointed. I personally could have gone for more "sweded" film scenes : )
What I ended up loving most about the film were the ideas about creativity, community, and movies. I think any kid who has ever picked up a video camera has made their own "sweded" versions of their favorite movies. As different from the original as it may turn out, there is always elements that make it identifiable as a version of the original. I think this says something about the way that films act as a modern form of folktales. There's a set of stories from which most films film take their plot, but it's in the filmmaker's telling of that same story we've heard and seen over and over that makes it unique and at the same time identifiable with the form of these stories that we love.
Be Kind also stresses the fact that film making is at its heart, about community. It's not a form of art that is typically done alone, but usually requires a whole gang of people. The "we" aspect can be tricky, just from the little experience I've had with making movies with friends, I can see that it's inevitable that people are going to disagree, be cranky, be late, get annoyed, lose tempers, and on and on. But you have a common goal and usually compromises are made, ideas combined, and the film is made. There is something so beautiful in ending up with a final product that contains individual elements of so many different people, but comes together as a whole as something that a group of people can say "we made this." The ending of the film wonderfully shows the magic of that first group screening.
Finally, I loved what this film said about movies as a form of expression and art. It is so easy to say that the only films worth making are those that are going to make money, and in Hollywood and within the film industry, yeah, that's true because you can't make films with a large (or even modest) budget if you don't have money or show that what you want to create will make money. But because new affordable technology has made it possible for nearly anyone with access to a computer to make movies, we can all be filmmakers, just like we can all be writers and painters and photographers and musicians. It's not about whether what we produce will make lots money (
Be Kind does a wonderful job of illustrating this) but that we can make things that express some part of who we are and hopefully will make others laugh and maybe even identify with or think. It doesn't matter that maybe only a handful of people will see and hear what we create, it's who experiences our acts of creativity: our friends, family, and community. This certainly isn't a diatribe against those who do make money making movies and other forms of art, I certainly love the films (and music and other forms of art) that are created with a budget of more than a couple hundred dollars! But again, I appreciate things that, like folktales, exists simply because we have the need to create and entertain and speak to one another, and I love that from Gondry's "homemade" special affects to the tear-jerking final scene, that this film celebrates that.
One final word: check out the film's
website, especially Michel Gondry's "sweded" version of the trailer. It's a lot of fun!
