be kind rewind
I want to encourage everyone in their creative endeavors regardless of my own aesthetic preferences because I envy and admire people who can aspire to entertain and catalyze thought in the face of overwhelming apathy. Unless they suck at it.
Okay, “sucking” as a term is probably too severe here. But, it’s a tricky thing, isn’t it? When creative people impress you, it makes you greedy for more. You want them to be this self-replenishing ceaseless fountain of impressive juices, because they’re inspiring you and they’ve set the bar higher simply by giving you a peek at their particular perspectives. Surely there must be some kind of limitless supply of awesome in those mines. But just because we want it doesn’t mean it’s there. And as admirers and patrons, maybe we need to appreciate what we’ve been given and make peace with that. Right, Larry and Andy?
Miss Erin and I went to check out Be Kind Rewind yesterday, and I didn’t quite get what I wanted. I’m a pretty big fan of Michel Gondry, despite his appalling Frenchness. He’s done some great things, and despite my oft-repeated fondness for progress and technological advancement, I really do appreciate his lo-fi style and organic special effects. Basically, he’s one of those rare folks who does the things he does so impressively that it forces me to re-evaluate my existing personal biases against them. But not so much this outing. It’s not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, depending on what you set down beside it, it’s still quite impressive. Unless that happens to be one of Gondry’s other attempts. This one seems to lack a little of the passion overall. Still, there’s enough of the earnest love for films and filmmaking that shines through from under a thin layer of unnecessary debris.
Finally, I gotta say Jack Black has disappointed me lately. While I don’t exactly think he’s heading down the Jim Carrey/Adam Sandler road to serious drama, he’s just not as funny lately as I assume he’s going to be. Maybe he’s challenging himself and telling us that he’s more than the much-maligned one trick pony, but sometimes that one trick is pretty fucking good. Stop trying to grow, dude. Just dance around like a good monkey. DANCE! Between this movie and Margot at the Wedding, he’s been a little bit of a downer. In all fairness, every character in Margot at the Wedding was some sort of unrepentant jackass devoid of any redeeming qualities beyond providing fodder for my fantasies regarding their brutal and savage murders. And that’s really just me trying to be creative.