The Mac Weekly

Issue date: 3/7/08 Section: The Arts

This semester in Film Analysis and Visual Culture, I have learned that I am not interested in movies. Rather, it is the stories and characters created within them that I care for. For instance, I am in love with George Bailey in "It's A Wonderful Life." The problem with our relationship is the fault of neither of us - it's just that he doesn't exist.

I rode the bus to Rosedale to check out New Line's Be Kind Rewind and arrived into the life of Mike Fletcher. Right? You know, the adopted son of the wrinkled Mr. Fletcher? Both struggle to keep alive the business of a video store called Be Kind Rewind in the town of Passaic, N.J.

No?

No. The real Passaic is not that pretty, and Mike and Mr. Fletcher are actually actors Mos Def and Danny Glover.

I inserted that awful self-dialogue to reveal a little about the feature I am about to review, but also to serve as a reminder that it is the function of such representation to confuse people like me about the difference between life and movies. Let me tell you, they'll do it every time.

My exposure to life and movies is still growing, but quickly enough to blur the distinction between them. There are titles that have entered my psyche and will stew there until I die. Until I do, I will be pining for serendipity and time travel, for people in my life like Annie Hall and Charles Kane that I can follow around, and for cuts away from tension and talking to peaceful, silent places. These delusions come from spots in my brain that react to good lighting and sharp editing. I am learning those spots are where the chemicals come from that produce familiarity, and am told they are what the "impulsive" movements of a camera attempt to imitate.

I have brought us to a crossroads in the forest path of my cinema experience. I am torn. On one side there is a will to understand the ingenuity behind the technical process of constructing a film, and on the other, a habit to wander far from it, deep into a plot with my friends, the characters. I find a happy medium in the obvious brilliance of Michel Gondry's film tricks, and most recently in "Be Kind Rewind."

Don't worry, the movie seems to whisper. There is a way between the two. Follow me.

The story is on the right, with sunlight and trees. Now that we are between the paths, the plot elements are not lined up, and they don't flow into one another. They're like free-floating picture frames.

Here's a frame that has a bright green and gold mural of Fats Waller being graffiti-ed under a bridge by Mike Fletcher and his best friend Jerry. According to Mr. Fletcher, Fats Waller was Passaic-born in the very building where they live. (I will veer to the left a bit to tell you that Jerry is Jack Black, who plays his character as if the actor just wandered on to the set and put on some weird glasses, but that's okay.)

Continued...

Page 1 of 3 next >

Article Tools