Michel Gondry – Retrenders

SWEDE FEST – A film festival for SWEDED films!

May 12, 2014 by Johnny Moreno Leave a Comment

SWEDE FEST will be held in Fresno, California, this Saturday, May 17th at the Tower Theatre. The venue was launched in 2008 by Roque Rodriquez and Bryan Harley and is now held in three locations, Fresno, Tampa Bay, and Palm Beach.

The idea to re-make a Hollywood hit film with video production essentials (literally just with a camcorder) and a great deal of far-fetched imagination came from Michel Gondry’s 2008 comedic hit movie, Be Kind Rewind, starring Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover and Melonie Diaz.

Now if you haven’t seen the film that sparked this craze – this is just a partial spoiler. The owner of a video store (Danny Glover) reluctantly has to take a business trip, leaving the video store in the hands of his less-in-reliable employee played by Mos Def, who promises nothing will happen while he’s gone. In short, an accident erases every video tape in the store which obviously becomes problematic for business, so Mos Def’s character along with his friends played by Jack Black and Melonie Diaz, creatively find a way to re-film the movies for their customers- and calling them SWEDED!

Popular SWEDED scenes in Be Kind Rewind were the remake of Hollywood hits: Robocop, Men in Black, Ghostbusters and The Lion King.

Click SWEDE FEST for more information about this upcoming event.

Filed Under: Art, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Geeky, Movies Tagged With: Danny Glover, Jack Black, Melonie Diaz, Michel Gondry, Mos Def

Indigo Mood – A film about life in motion even when there is tragedy.

June 27, 2013 by Johnny Moreno Leave a Comment

Michel Gondry’s latest film Indigo Mood is a romantic fantasy love story that takes place in the contemporary 1950s with a bit of Salvador Dali’s melting of time dilemma surrounding the protagonist character played by Audrey Tatou. If one’s life is slipping away, the only answer is the mystical aura of life itself! With hints of everyday artistic gadgetry to everyday defying signs of gravity in the film– how can we not find a way to make this relationship work?

Here are 5 stated details about the film that I have come across the web.

1. It’s a love fable in a dream.

2. It’s the next “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind“, a past film of Michel Gondry’s

3. There’s some Duke Ellington jazz

4. Contemporary Paris of the 1950s with a Retro vibe

5. This film was impossible to do until Michel Gondry came along.

The film is based on a 1947 French novel called L’écume des jours by Boris Vian. Yes, a fantasy love story written over 60 years ago.

The film has been released in France. A US release should be within this year.

Filed Under: Art, Entertainment, Movies Tagged With: Art house, Audrey Tatou, Cannes Film Festival, Festival de Cannes, Michel Gondry

The Art of a Video Store

March 29, 2013 by Johnny Moreno Leave a Comment

Most of us have probably moved on from stepping into a video store to using Netflix by mail if not by digital cable at the push of a menu button, but the truth be told is that we lose a great deal of social interaction, adventure and discovery about films first hand, because where else could you find unusual categories, collections, to even never before seen films that went nowhere but into a video store that exists for the interest of a cinephile, and of course operated by people who love the art of cinema and have made the video store their business to provide that missing, if not, hard to find film you’ve been searching for.