The sweded films seem strangely better than the originals, stripped of glitz and glamour. What remains is heart, soul and a passionate love affair that has stood the test of time and technology.

“I’ll be Bill Murray and you be everybody else,” Mike says holding an old VHS video camera.

On YouTube, on Myspace, and in countless film festivals, of all shapes and sizes, people are making movies—on cell phones, and on hand-held camcorders. Some are silly, some are serious, some are gross, and some you just can’t get your head around.

But still hundreds of movies are made everyday and exhibited in a variety of fashions. Well all you amateur filmmakers out there are the champions of Michel Gondry’s new film “Be Kind Rewind.”

Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover) owns “Be Kind Rewind” a condemned video rental store in the heart of Passaic, New Jersey. When he goes away for a few days, he leaves his adopted son Mike (Mos Def) in charge.

He has only request: Keep Jerry (Jack Black) out. Jerry works at a salvage yard down the street, and is a little off his rocker—he likes to wear a colander on his head when he sleeps and wrap himself in tinfoil.

Shortly after Jerry attempts to sabotage a local power plant, customers start complaining about their videos being blank. Mike tests them and sure enough, they are nothing but white noise. The rest of the videos in the store look the same.

He asks Jerry for help, only to discover that he is the source of the problem. “You’re magnetized!” Mike says, rubbing Jerry’s head against the TV.

Unsure what to do, and needing a copy of “Ghostbusters” for Mrs. Falewicz (Mia Farrow), the two come up with a plan. Armed with an old video camera and a few hours, they recreate a 20-minute version of “Ghostbusters.”

Word of their exploits travels throughout the community and soon, with the help of a neighborhood girl Alma (Melonie Diaz) they are getting hundreds of requests to “swede,” or remake, famous Hollywood movies. The films are a smash-hit and the trio becomes community celebrities, and even when Mr. Fletcher returns, he can hardly argue with the profits.

The film raises questions about piracy and what constitutes it. Mike, Jerry and Alma are appropriating these movies, boiling down two hours into the essence of the stories. Yet this doesn’t save them from coming under fire from the studios for copyright violation.

There is such an economical investment in films and characters (just think about Disney’s attempts to protect Mickey from becoming public domain) that Gondry asks us, who owns these movies?

What freedoms do we have to reinterpret these? Do we even have any? The result is a funny and pointed critique, a burden his players take on full-force.

While all the performances in “Be Kind Rewind” are strong, Mos Def’s shines with an extra-strength bulb. He effervescently blends comedy and drama, creating a complex character that is tragic, heartwarming and hilarious. He is troubled by the lack of respect he receives from his father, caught in monotony by his life in Passaic, and powerless to save his home from condo reincarnation. Yet he finds therapeutic power in the movie-making.

Mos Def’s counterpart, Black, is perfect. He fits easily into the shoes of a paranoid cinephile. While he can sometimes go a little overboard, here Black is refreshingly subdued and clever.

The whimsical sense of imagination that Gondry brought to “The Science of Sleep” is ever-present. And some of the most delightful scenes in the film occur when Mike, Jerry and Alma re-interpret such Tinseltown classics as “2001: A Space Oddessy,” “King Kong,” and “Robocop.”

They recapture the films’ most memorable scenes with clever practical effects that can’t help but to remind you of Georges Méliès and homemade special effects. The sweded films seem strangely better than the originals, stripped of glitz and glamour. What remains is heart, soul and a passionate love affair that has stood the test of time and technology.

“Be Kind Rewind” is an unabashed ode to movie-making. Gondry takes the art away from studio executives and gives it back to the people.

Just like Chef Pierre told the rat, “anyone can cook,” Gondry tells us that movies are not a privilege afforded to the few but the many. And Hollywood, despite its big budgets and fancy special effects, can’t take that away from us.

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