Director: Michel Gondry
Year Released: 2008
Rating: 2.0
Mischievous Jack Black - rendered 'magnetic' as a result of fooling around a power plant - erases the VHS tapes in Danny Glover's run-down, outdated store, so Black and store clerk Mos Def break out the video camera and recreate the movies, to inexplicable success. The defense of the do-it-yourself aesthetic in an age of mass-produced junk is a noble one, I think, but the very essence of this movie negates its own message: it's directed by an Oscar-winning filmmaker, has several stars, a decent budget, modern equipment and was released theatrically. The retro-thinking on Gondry's part - praise of poorly-constructed, sloppy filmmaking done 'with heart' (but sometimes less talent) - is a reflection of his irksome hipster/man-child persona, and the intimation that street-types prefer, say, high school project versions of Jaws and 2001: A Space Odyssey (both of which were done with passion, by the way) to the real thing is somewhat unhealthy (pardon me, but choosing between a brand new Burberry coat and a thrift store coat is a no-brainer). The defeatist feeling left at the end of the movie - that there's 'no going back' to the days of taping and bootlegging and fan-made videos - is implausible in the age of YouTube; also implausible is Mos Def's not realizing he can very easily copy the DVD version of popular movies to the VHS tapes.
