Be Kind Rewind

Synopsis: In Passaic, NJ, Elroy Fletcher runs a video store in a condemned building he claims was the birthplace of Fats Waller. Fletcher goes on a Waller centennial trip, leaving his foster son Mike in charge of the store. Mike's peculiar friend Jerry tries to sabotage a power station and nearly electrocutes himself, getting magnetized in the process. He inadvertently erases every tape in the store. Mike and Jerry hatch an plan to hide the disaster by making a homemade "Ghostbusters" to rent to a woman whom Fletcher will be phoning to check on them. Soon, with help, their homemade versions of films develop a cult following. Will this new business save the store and the building? What about Fats?
Genre: Comedy
Director(s): Michel Gondry
Production: New Line Cinema
  4 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.4
Metacritic:
52
Rotten Tomatoes:
65%
PG-13
Year:
2008
102 min
$11,200,000
Website
554 Views


Everyone thinks Harlem

was the capital of jazz in the 1930s.

That all of New York flooded uptown

at night to party till dawn.

Nice story, but unfortunately,

it's just not true.

It was all happening in the little town

of Passaic, New Jersey.

Passaic was the capital of jazz

in the '20s and '30s...

... because of its own native son...

... Thomas "Fats" Waller...

... one of the greatest entertainers

of all time.

Chapter 1, the birth of Fats Waller.

It all began right here,

a hundred years ago...

... in Passaic, New Jersey.

Right here, on this block.

It was a different neighborhood then,

but look here...

... he was born at 261 Main Street.

When he was young, he used to follow

his father around the streets...

... because his father

was a street minister.

He started playing piano, as I understand,

out in the streets here in Passaic...

... on a harmonium.

Poor boy put on pounds

faster than the price of aluminum.

One-forty-seven.

Thomas, you're gonna break

Dr. Benton 's scale.

You're getting worse.

Maybe that's why he would have to play

a very huge instrument.

So he would spend nights here,

at the great organ.

Fats used the church

as his training ground.

And soon, all of Passaic

would know his name.

Fats lived his life all in excess.

Loads of music, loads of food

and loads of women.

Who would expect a simple influenza virus

would get him in his bed?

A sleeping-train bed, though.

But still, the train had been stopped

in the freezing cold winter...

... in the train station in Kansas City.

Fats, are you okay? Fats? You okay?

Is there a doctor on the train?

Fats was the star

that made the whole town shine.

Hey, Jerry, hand me Number 9.

I will give you

- Okay. All right.

- Number 9

Handing you number

- Would you shut up?

- Number 9

Could you just paint

and be quiet, please?

Knock it off.

It's terrible.

- What the duck, Jerry?

- What?

I asked you to give me Number 9,

the nose.

Yeah, that's what I did.

No, you didn't. This is Number 6.

This is the eye.

All right, well, how am I supposed to tell

the difference between a six and a nine?

Because we did both the eyes already,

you doofus.

Come on, get organized.

I told you, put the finished ones

in a separate pile.

Look, what's the difference, man?

A nostril and an upside-down eye

are the same anyway. It looks fine.

Oh, is that supposed to be funny?

Are you trying to say Fats had big nostrils?

- Jerry.

- Hi, officer, how's it going?

Look what happened. Last night,

some hoodlums came and did...

- Oh, really?

...all this stuff here, this...

- Here we go again.

- It's disgusting.

- I hate graffiti.

- Yeah, they even left the ladder.

That's, like, evidence.

We should confiscate it.

- Catch them.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure.

You're getting on my nerves.

You keep this up,

you'll be spending the night in jail.

- Okay.

- Moron.

If... If they come back for the ladder,

we'll catch them.

Hey, fellas, is that supposed to be

Biggie Smalls or something?

No, man, that's that dead old blues guy,

Louis Armstrong.

No, my ignorant little buddies,

this is Fats Waller.

- Really?

- Famous jazz musician.

He was born in my building

about a hundred years ago.

- Ice cream, anyone?

- Oh, yeah.

That's what I'm talking about.

Mr. Fletcher, you know,

really, seriously...

...if you don't like the painting,

you can... You can tell me.

I know that there's something wrong

with the nose, I don't know if you noticed.

What about the authorities, Mike?

The city already has issues

with the building as it is.

Mr. Fletcher, you don't have

to worry about the police.

- I worked my magic on them.

- Yeah, he did confuse them.

Okay, they think some gangsters did it.

- And you confused them?

- Yeah, with my finesse.

Yeah, I feel great. You sure

this is gonna bring us more customers?

I hope so. I mean, anyway, don't you think

it's time the people around here...

...started to learn a bit little about, you

know, the history of their neighborhood?

I mean, people don't even know

who Fats is.

- It's a little embarrassing.

- Hey. Hey. That's not true.

- We know who Fats Waller is.

- Is that right?

Bet you can't sing a jazz song.

- Oh, challenge.

- Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

That's not jazz.

Fuzzy, oh, oh

Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear

Fuzzy jazzy had no hair

Fuzzy wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, was he?

Yes, he was, he was Fuzzy

Had a fuzzy face

Check this out and let me say

One thing to you

Watch me play my fuzzy bass

Standup bass.

I'm sorry, Mr. Fletcher.

It's all right, Jerry. I got it.

Actually, you gotta go back to work.

Duty calls. You gotta

go back to the microwave.

I think I saw one of your creations

just roll by.

- Turn the microwave on high.

- You think it's a joke?

Let me tell you, you're gonna

be responsible for my brain tumor.

- All of you guys are.

- Where the hell is Jerry?

Man, what's her problem?

She said she wanted a sporty car,

now she's freaking out.

You did that?

- I don't want this.

- Don't forget your salad bowl.

I told you she wouldn't be

into them big pipes.

Polish or not, she's still a girl.

Come on, Wilson.

She couldn't get the doors open.

Well, she could have went through

the window.

These damn helmets.

I don't think they're helping

with the microwaves at all.

Oh, you'll thank me.

- All right, I'll see you in the morning.

- All right, thanks.

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Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry (French: [miʃɛl ɡɔ̃dʁi]; born 8 May 1963) is a French independent film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers of the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. His other films include the surrealistic science fantasy comedy The Science of Sleep (2006), the comedy Be Kind Rewind (2008), the superhero action comedy The Green Hornet (2011), the drama The We and the I (2012), and the romantic science fantasy tragedy Mood Indigo (2013). He is well known for his music video collaborations with Radiohead, Björk, Beck, The Chemical Brothers and The White Stripes. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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