Of Gondry and dreams
Michel Gondry. Intriguing cinema. Intriguing art. Intriguing person. It is tough to classify him in one art form. The man has many faces. He remembers his dreams, or so his art suggests. He makes sure you see his dreams too, how they fall in or out of one place, in all their shattering glory.
A no-holds barred explosion of an innocently wild imagination, BE KIND REWIND gives a key-holed viewer all the reasons to not only absorb the world it creates, but wallow in its oft-dramatic, oft-personal trajectory. It takes a while, may be a little less, to tune into the world it creates – VHS tapes, old school film rental shops, video libraries with dust proudly adorning some corners, on the edge of extinction, kept alive only by the trite humor of cinema; the magical illusion of crude but unjustified belief of the film lover. The one that makes you buy any story that you want to see. It is an orgasm of imagination and tiny truths.
Once such alliances are made on the metaphysical level/planes of reference that Gondry prefers to communicate quite believably, it is an easy task to further head to obscure minorities like story, structure, format and the overall language a film creates.
What helps rather magically is the ease of flow, the very accessible trio of a brilliant Danny Glover(rooted in the gloom of his character, what a portrayal!), a sparkling Jack Black(I can’t think of a better performance by him, he is all you imagined and more. I was in high praise of his Po(Kungfu Panda) and it only grew from strength to strength as I saw the film again, Black is Po, Po is Black. You look for him in that furry sorry creature on screen unlike a King Kong or where you wanted to avoid him to see the character he was playing.), and a finely nuanced Mos Def and that breezy turn by a divine(she smiles and the world smiles at you) Mia Farrow.
I was pleasantly surprised by some of the predictable auteur elements in a non-auteur work like this, like the presence of story(I mean that is an accidental occurrence in a Gondry product, the story is a by-product), eye to detail/or the lack of it. You would imagine there will be a splatter or reverence and more than normal eye to detail. NO. Watch the duo cleverly reconstruct Ghostbusters
Jerry: [sung, poorly, to the tune of the Ghostbusters theme song] When you’re walkin’ down the street…
Jerry: [singing] … and you see a little ghost…
Jerry: [singing] … whatcha gonna do about –
[more out of tune]
Jerry: Ghostbusters?
Mike: What? What is that?
Jerry: That’s the Ghostbusters theme song.
Mike: No.
Jerry: I’m pretty sure it is.
Mike: [to Jerry as they begin to remake Ghost Busters] I’m Bill Murray, you’re everybody else.
Lion King
Jerry: [Alma is providing the voices for "The Lion King"] Listen to me. I need to you say the line. I need you to say “I will piss on the bones of your ancestors”…
Mike: No, no! That’s not in the movie!
Jerry: [interrupts] This is the next Lion King. This is Part II.
Alma: Roar! I will piss on the bones of your ancestors!
Robocop
Jerry: [in character, shooting Robocop] Anything you say can and will be held against you…in the court of Robocop.
Rush Hour, and you won’t help but wink at the evident childlike resonance in the masterful work that Gondry creates here. It is him in his no-support system avatar here and you cant help appreciate it in spite of the few uncomfortable terrains that the film explores.
I read this somewhere in one of the reviews and feel it sums up the whole feeling beautifully…
Who needs film-school when you’ve got your friends and a cheap camera?
Epilogue
No, this was not a review. I mentioned Michel Gondry somewhere yesterday, I guess in the discussion about Charlie Kaufman. So Eternal Sunshine came up, a film I am not too fond of. Both Kaufman and Gondry have done better. Gondry for one is a mystery, and I wish it never unravels. From his short films to music videos(Bjork, Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers etc.) to installation art to commercials/ads to random abstract art to big studio films to his experiments with all forms of art(color, music, pictures, moving images, puppets), he will give you a good weekend rest assured.
I didn’t want to revisit BKR so early so could not mention all the plot points and the theories it generates(Swedes/sweded tapes, film references, pop-culture digs etc.), but do watch the film, for love of the 80’s. This interview will help understand his ‘distortion of reality’ concepts. The man never goes the normal way, so why met him such a treatment. I keep going back to Michel Gondry along with Spike Jonze when films do not serve my interest or imagination. Their interviews, works of art, films(less), music videos are enough to inspire you and let you survive an year of bad films and bad music videos.
I will come back with more on Gondry and Jonze(his music videos) some other day.
Still need to check out The Science of Sleep and Block Party. Until then, keep the dream alive.
Acknowledgement & links :
www.michelgondry.com
Le Romantique – NY Times
How my brain works – Interview with Bright Lights Film Journal
Tags: Be kind rewind, Bjork, Daft Punk, Danny Glover, Dreams, Jack Black, Kungfu Panda, Mia Farrow, Michel Gondry, Science of Sleep, Spike Jonze
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Be Kind Rewind was certainly the most under-rated film of the year. Quite surprising, when so much time and energy was put in describing ‘the cinema for the coming economic depression’.. that they failed to spot one right below their nose. ‘Rewind’ is certainly Gondry’s best, perfectly combining his talent for that spectacular-technicolor origami, his love for cinema, his nostalgia for things past and his love for his characters. Jack Black.. well, man.. couldn’t get over how delicately Gondry gets past the whole persona to the sadness beneath, Mos Def- man, understated even embarrassing but real and Danny Glover, trailer park cool and Mia Farrow, Mia Farrow, Mia Farrow, Mia….
I know man. Ghostbusters!
Tushar , sahi sahi
(thanks for the links)
Check out ‘Michel Gondry’s Music Videos,
Especially ‘Human Behavior’ by Bjork
Very very Inspirational ,….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txr619ll9Jk
Morning Shekhar. I have these ‘The work of Director’ series on him and Jonze. Simply inspiring, all their music videos. Its about time Gondry makes a full-fledged animation film.
and who can forget Wilson! (Amatuers!)
here’s the sweded trailer:-
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=-B0dJQ35rDs
‘The work of Director’ series , WOw sounds Fun
Just saw Human Behavior again. Youtube looks like its too generous on Gondry. Lots of good stuff.
Talking about sweding, what hindi films would you like to swede?
Shekhar, these are double sided DVD’s. Pretty much a collector thing for someone like us.
The work of director
Gondry
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384700/
Jonze
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386124/
Sid, need to get hold of this film again and Science of sleep soon. Any news on what’s he doing lately, and what’s with his segment in Tokyo. What’s Tokyo?
dude.. i told you man.. country’s reeling from serious short-supply of Be Kind in all markets.. Science of Sleep is there at the office.. Special Features and all.. Tokyo! is festival circuiting.. i’m hoping Trivandrum has it
OK. hmmmm. ironical, ain’t it? :-)
btw, I took a Trivandrum leave 11th-16th. Hope its fine.
arre tushar.. just watched BKR last week and loved it. mos def was a treat to watch too.. there’s something very likeable about him, and he’s not just another rapper wanna-be actor. he was so friggin good in 16 blocks with bruce willis. check it out if you get a chance
nice to see a sort of homage to guerilla and indie filmmakers this week.. ed wood, tim burton, now this (not that gondry himself is indie or guerilla.. but BKR touches upon what the essence of all that is)
12-19.. delegate forms available from tomo.. atleast thats what the websites say..
Striker, need to check out 16 blocks. I agree Gondry can be talked about in the same league as those you mentioned. In fact even I am loving this indie/B season.
Sid, ya I have been following up on the website man. Usi ka sochke I planned max possible leaves. We ll plan more this weekend.
Tushar,..
Are you heading to “Beemapally” in Trivandrum?
Shekhar, I am planning for Kerala International Film Fest. Not sure about the exact place though. Sid might know more on that. In the meanwhile, wanted to show you some of my B experiments, with toys n shit.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/humanprojector/sets/72157605527321918/
Did not walk in to comment about the article… Just the mention of “Beemapally”….
Damnn I miss Trivandrum… I mean, I still think of it as a land of “uncelebrated landlords”, “sex-starved people”, “pimps waiting to cash in” and “Gangsters who operate on a nascent level”.. It truly is a sin city…. But it has an allure to it… An allure tha is often overshadowed by that twisted accent by which is characterized…
Sreehari, its a pleasure to have you drop by, relevant or not relevant to the article. Would certainly look forward to your imagery if I land up in this place.
Tushar, mast Toy collection
“Wreckel in sllhouette” is my favourite!!!
Shekhar, thanks. I guess you mean Wrecker. It’s my favorite too! along with ‘o looterey’ & ‘fallen hero’.
A sad news, beemappally dvd shops closed down see