Be Kind… (CREDIT: Drafthouse Films/Screenshot)

Starring: Yongman Kim

Directors: Ashley Sabin and David Redmon

Running Time: 85 Minutes

Rating: Unrated

Release Date: April 5, 2024 (Theaters)

If you’re a film buff who spent any time in New York City between 1987 and 2008, then you’re probably familiar with Kim’s Video and Music, the East Village rental store that was famous for its wide selection of obscure (and often bootleg) cinematic offerings. In the documentary Kim’s Video, co-director David Redmon sets out to discover what happened to the joint’s extensive VHS collection. His journey leads him to a town in Sicily and a collaboration with Yongman Kim, aka the “Kim” in “Kim’s Video.” If you’ve visited the Lower Manhattan location of the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater, then chances are you know where this story is ultimately headed

So now, instead of a traditional review, I would like to take this space to reminisce about my own story of growing up at the video store and invite my readers to do so as well in the comments section. I took up residence in NYC too late to become a member of Kim’s, but there were a few rental options for me to check out in suburban southeastern Pennsylvania in the 90s and early 2000s. The nearest and dearest was the local branch of West Coast Video. There was also a Blockbuster in the area, but West Coast was a little bit closer and a little bit cooler. It really only offered new and major releases, so it wasn’t the place where I expanded the depths of my cinematic taste into the bizarre and the unknown, but it certainly served its purpose. It was where I rented Monkeybone, after all. I also have a vague memory of Addams Family Reunion being prominently displayed in the new release shelves for an inordinately long amount of time.

Moving onto my high school and college years, when I would spend a fair amount of time at a friend’s house that was around the block from a Hollywood Video. That chain had what I believe was a loyalty program named “MVP,” which left me flummoxed about why this store was so enamored with a hockey-playing chimp.

Much of Kim’s Video the documentary consists of various movie clips, as Redmon fancies himself the protagonist of all the stories he encountered via his Kim’s Video membership over the years. As someone who tends to live much of my life through a parasocial lens, I could see where he’s coming from, and I reckon I’m not the only one.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Rentals