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Yesterday afternoon, while I was not watching Be Kind Rewind, I wondered, why don't they just make an entire film that's a homemade version of a real one? That seems easier. In fact, that was done to Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark in the magical pre-YouTube age of 1982-88 by three 12-18 year olds — that is, the kids started shooting the film in sequence at age 12, and by the last scenes they were several years older, so they age during the movie, which apparently is not the only reason this feature-length shot-for-shot remake of Raiders is entirely watchable, by complete strangers, for more than art/camp value. That's what every news report (one came out every few months since Spielberg discovered the film in 2002) says. CLIPS GALORE, and a link to the entire remake, below.

The film won over Wired, Vanity Fair, the Age, and the London Times. The creation story was optioned a while back, but it's been beaten to release by the upcoming cute but too-hip Son of Rambow, which is the same story in England with two Cockney kids. Here's the trailer for that:

In contrast, this BBC segment on Raiders shows some footage from the homemade remake:

In short, Raiders: Adaptation sounds less exhaustingly twee than Rambow or Rewind, and maybe even more fun than the new actual Indiana Jones. I'm still downloading it, but this is apparently a working Bittorrent file of the remake. (While the movie's been screened in several cities, it's never been officially released or even authorized by Spielberg and Lucas.) If you feel bad about stealing it, remember that the whole movie technically is stealing!