Michel Gondry Bringing ‘Be Kind Rewind’ to Life at Deitch Gallery

Each year, one or two movies defy Hollywood’s dumping-ground tradition of January by daring to be interesting and good. We have high hopes that Michel Gondry’s comedy Be Kind Rewind is one of those movies in 2008. We’ve been excited about this one ever since we posted an appropriately ramshackle version of its trailer way back in August, and further promotions for the movie, as detailed in the L.A. Times, have been enjoyable if uneven. (Due to technical difficulties, the Website that supposedly allows you to insert photos of your friends onto the VHS cover of Rush Hour 2 was a bust, but we enjoy the notion that Jack Black has accidentally erased the Internet.)

Now comes the coolest cross-promotional announcement yet: Starting later this month, art gallery Deitch Projects will be hosting an interactive Michel Gondry Be Kind Rewind exhibition.

Just as the movie features Jack Black and Mos Def videotaping low-fi re-creations, or (in the parlance of the film) “sweded� versions, of popular movies, so will Deitch Projects allow visitors to create their own sweded films. Visitors can take home copies of their own movies, but all movies created during the exhibition will also be available for viewing and rental from the gallery.

This is a totally great idea, and we plan to be first in line to make a sweded version of Cloverfield. Given the crappy shaky-cam cinematography in that movie’s trailer, we’re pretty sure our sweded version will look identical to the original.

Michel Gondry Be Kind Rewind [Deitch Projects]
Selling ‘Be Kind Rewind’ with a slapdash of humor [LAT]
Earlier: Trailer for Michel Gondry’s ‘Be Kind Rewind’ Leaks on to YouTube
‘Cloverfield’ Trailer: We Pretty Much Know How This Movie Ends