BE KIND REWIND was, unfortunately, a pretty crappy movie. But what it did was launch the art of “sweding” – remaking a movie from scratch using whatever you can get your hands on – into the mainstream. Now Michel Gondry, who directed REWIND, has returned to the world of sweding to recreate a modern classic.
Gondry was asked to create a short that would run before the French premiere of HUGO. To pay proper homage to Scorsese, Gondry decided to swede TAXI DRIVER. What follows is very much sweded, very much French and very much Gondry. It’s worth it just to hear Gondry say, “Moi? Je ne vois pas quelqu’un dans cette salle, sauf moi. Vous parlez à moi?” as he stares into a mirror. (I have no idea if that’s exactly what he’s saying – I Google Translated it.)