★★★★★

After 14 years there’s almost nothing recognizable left in this film. VHS and DVDs are gone, video stores don’t exist, and all the films referenced have been replaced by a tasteless slurry spoon fed to an uncaring audience by the accursed rat. Even the DIY energy from the protagonists has a boot on its neck now thanks to the takeover by the gig economy and crowdfunding.

But. In the moment where the landlords tear the decal off of their plans to gentrify the neighborhood quirky video store into another beige box, forcing its black tenants into the projects by forces totally out of their control, I involuntarily burst into tears. That’s not really the intended reaction from that moment (it’s a goof, like almost every moment of this film), and I don’t expect to have that reaction the next time I watch this. But the energy and the visual language of this film felt so overwhelming and so timeless that it smashed my emotions and my brain to pieces. there’s just so much here. It’s so earnest and funny and… real? That I don’t know what else to say other than this is one of my favorite movies of all time. It makes you believe in magic.

Speaking of believing in magic, im also changing my mind about whether that’s Tom Pynchon doing a cameo. I initially believed the special features segment of the DVD that pretends it isn’t him, but it’s sooo obviously him. Like come on. It’s gotta be. Just look at his weird face!