What’s on

LIZA MINNELLI
Friday 30th May:
In these days of manufactured artists the term ‘superstar’ is all too often bestowed upon those whose ‘star’ has barely ascended. The term can truly only be used when talking about a handful of entertainers. Liza Minnelli is one of those entertainers. Tickets start from £35.

PLAYHOUSE
0115 9419419
www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk

BREAKING THE SILENCE   
Friday 16th to Saturday 31st May:
Caught up in the maelstrom of post-revolutionary Russia, the Pesiakoff family lose their palatial Moscow home and are re-accommodated in a dilapidated imperial train, complete with their maid. Tickets priced between £9 and £26.50.
 

FILM REVIEW
By Nic Harvey

BE KIND REWIND (12A)
We join Mike (Mos Def) as he takes over management of Be Kind Rewind video store while owner Mr Fletcher (Danny Glover) is “out of town”. But perpetual nuisance Jerry (Jack Black) has become magnetised while attempting to sabotage the local power station, and erases all the tapes. Rather than try any of the numerous logical solutions, the odd couple set about re-making the lost tapes with their own ancient video camera.
It’s clear from the moment Mike picks up the camcorder how the film was written. The idea of re-making the tapes was the initial brainwave, and the rest of the challenge was in constructing some feeble plot around it- and that’s exactly what we get on screen. The gags are rare and rarely side-splitting, it’s more likely you’ll have a warm smile on your face throughout. The real comedy comes from the ’sweded’ (the process of putting your own cheap spin on something) movies Mike and Jerry create, with the help of local residents. Ghostbusters, RoboCop and Driving Miss Daisy are highlights, but each re-imagining of the classic repertoire is peppered with ingenuious gadgets and camera tricks on zero budget.
This is also part of the problem, however, and as the low-budget grapples with the Hollywood we’re left with a confusing mixed bag of ideas. When the entertaining concept is exhausted, we make a dodgy three-point-turn into a final act of life-affirming redemption. Though it manages to stay heart-warming rather than overtly schmaltzy, it all feels clumsily crow-barred in or glued to the end of the story with little consideration.

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