{"id":686946,"date":"2025-08-24T21:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T18:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/who-the-hell-opens-a-video-store-in-2025-renoir-thats-who\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T21:00:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T18:00:32","slug":"who-the-hell-opens-a-video-store-in-2025-renoir-thats-who","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/who-the-hell-opens-a-video-store-in-2025-renoir-thats-who\/","title":{"rendered":"Who the Hell Opens a Video Store in 2025? Renoir, That\u2019s Who"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tPaintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir hang in every major museum in Southern California. The French master\u2019s son, filmmaker Jean Renoir, was nominated for an Oscar in 1946. Believe it or not, there\u2019s another Renoir working in Hollywood today, and he\u2019s a trailblazer in his own way. Meet Matthew Renoir \u2014 the great-great-grandson of the Impressionist painter and the great-grandson of the filmmaker \u2014 who at the height of streaming opened a video rental store in Burbank called Be Kind Video.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen people find out about his family history, Renoir admits, \u201cIt\u2019s a weird thing. Not that I\u2019m not wanting to talk about it.\u201d But their first question is always the same, he says: \u201d \u2018Do you have any paintings?\u2019 I always go, \u2018Yeah, they\u2019re in my car.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMatthew, 41, grew up on a farm in Stevinson, California \u2014 a town of about 300 people in the Central Valley. His father owned a plumbing business, his mother was a nurse. The closest movie theater was 25 minutes away. He was aware of his family\u2019s legacy from a young age, he tells me, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s not like my grandmother sat us down.\u201d It was just a part of their lives. Matthew\u2019s grandfather \u2014 Jean Renoir\u2019s son \u2014 would take the family to France every few years, and sometimes they\u2019d visit the painter\u2019s home in C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur, which has been preserved as a museum. On those trip<\/a>s, he met his cousin, French actress and C\u00e9sar Award nominee Sophie Renoir, and they\u2019re still tight; he recently attended her niece\u2019s wedding.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tPierre-Auguste Renoir, French, 1841\u20131919, Self-Portrait, c. 1875<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSepia Times\/Universal Images Group\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tAs a kid, Matthew\u2019s great-grandparents had a Renoir masterpiece called Jean as a Huntsman<\/em> hanging in their house. In the painting, a young Jean Renoir is depicted holding a hunting rifle. If Matthew wants to revisit the piece, he has to go to LACMA. \u201cBecause of inheritance tax and all that crap,\u201d he says, \u201cit ended up being gifted\u201d to the museum.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continues: \u201cMy great-grandfather Jean and his brothers inherited so many paintings. When Jean was making films initially, he was funding them by selling paintings. He didn\u2019t feel great about doing that.\u201d (In 1990, Sotheby\u2019s sold Renoir\u2019s Bal du Moulin de la Galette<\/em> for $78.1 million; in 2024, a lesser Renoir sold for $10.5 million.)<\/p>\n

\n\tLike his great-grandfather, Matthew would gravitate toward cinema. After high school, he enrolled in community college before transferring to San Francisco State to pursue cinema studies. (Only one professor made the family connection.) Later, living in Los Angeles, he worked as a cinematographer on independent films, including a documentary about a Valley couple famous for their immersive Halloween installations. But Renoir was malleable. When the real estate market boomed early in the pandemic, he found a niche shooting drone footage for high-end brokers, which paid well but certainly wasn\u2019t why he\u2019d fallen in love with the camera.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tBe Kind Video in Burbank stocks more than 12,000 titles \u2014 on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray \u2014 and many are for sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Roger Kisby<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tRenoir wasn\u2019t a careerist. Searching for his next act, he was reminded of a childhood dream of owning a video rental store. He recalled aimlessly roaming the aisles with his older brother, and while they rented a Rainbow Brite movie so often, the owner suggested they just buy the tape, there was a sense of discovery. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have cable,\u201d he says. \u201cWe probably didn\u2019t even own a couple dozen tapes or whatever.\u201d But the video store with \u201cthe posters, the mobiles, [advertising] the stuff coming out \u2026 We all had TVs that were like this big,\u201d he says, mimicking a tiny five-inch screen. In his mind, it felt like Imax.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s the vibe he\u2019s tried to capture at Be Kind Video, a 525-foot storefront that\u2019s designed to feel like your best friend\u2019s basement, with wood paneling from the \u201980s and a vintage Nintendo plugged into a hulking TV. New releases rent for just four bucks. There\u2019s even a lockbox outside for returns. (The late fee is $1.25 a day, and Blockbuster-style membership cards are in the works.)<\/p>\n

\n\tBe Kind stocks more than 12,000 titles \u2014 on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray \u2014 and many are for sale. On the day I visited, 14-year-old Arabella from Toluca Lake was hunting for gifts for a friend\u2019s birthday. Teenagers are into physical media<\/a>? \u201cIt\u2019s less modern,\u201d Arabella explains, her mom likening it to vintage shopping. After browsing for 10 minutes, they left with a sweet haul of Happ<\/a>y Gilmore, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Lego Batman Movie <\/em>and The Goonies.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tJean as a Huntsman (1910), by Matthew Renoir\u2019s great-great-grandfather Pierre-Auguste Renoir, is now part of LACMA\u2019s collection.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPierre-Auguste Renoir\/Courtesy of LACMA<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tOf streaming, Renoir sniffs, \u201cI feel like you\u2019re given options but no choice.\u201d It\u2019s a weird distinction, he admits, but it\u2019s real to him. Netflix has something like 3,800 titles, he says, which sounds like a lot until you realize \u201cthey have nothing earlier than The Sting<\/em>, which is 1973.\u201d Some films \u2014 including \u201csome David Lynch stuff\u201d \u2014 aren\u2019t available digitally at all. He\u2019s not a snob either, pointing out that \u201cSpice World <\/em>doesn\u2019t stream anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOpening an analog video store long after the industry shifted to streaming may seem counterintuitive. Though there\u2019s precedent: Matthew\u2019s good friend owns a typewriter repair shop in the Arts District. On the eve of Be Kind\u2019s three-year anniversary, he reveals he\u2019s talking to his landlord about doubling his footprint.<\/p>\n

\n\tThankfully, he\u2019s got a short commute. Renoir lives in a guest house in Studio City owned by the film historian Anthony Slide and his partner Robert Gitt, a noted film preservationist he\u2019d met through a mutual friend, the late actor-producer Norman Lloyd, who died in 2021 at 106 and was likely the only person to have worked with both Alfred Hitchcock and Amy Schumer.<\/p>\n

\n\tGitt, who\u2019d worked as a preservation officer at the UCLA Film & Television Archive for 20 years, not only knew Jean Renoir personally, he\u2019d actually restored his 1945 film The Southerner, <\/em>which landed the director his only Oscar nomination. Before Matthew moved in, Gitt says, he used to screen films on 16mm and 35mm in the guest house. (Renoir jokes about the absurdity of owning a video store and sleeping in a movie theater.)<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tJean Renoir directed Julien Carette (left) and Marcel Dalio in 1939\u2019s The Rules of the Game<\/a><\/em>, considered one of the greatest films of all time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Everett Collection<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tWhen asked about now having a Renoir in his guest house, Gitt is thrilled. He doesn\u2019t drive anymore, and his younger tenant recently took him and Slide to the Huntington Gardens. The tickets were under the name RENOIR, Gitt said, so he expected a hint of recognition from the box office agent. \u201cNobody said anything whatsoever,\u201d Gitt says.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a way, Renoir sees himself as part of the family business. \u201cI still want to make films,\u201d he says, adding he has done some producing, including on a 2019 film called The Ascent<\/em>, which you can rent at Be Kind and (gulp) on Amazon. But what he loves most about cinema maybe is the community, which you can\u2019t really get from your couch. Be Kind Video hosts lo-fi screenings in-house and Q&As with such guests as Dean Cundey, the cinematographer on the original Jurassic Park<\/em>. This shop, Renoir says while looking at the retro carpet, \u201cIt\u2019s a clubhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story appeared in the Aug. 20 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir hang in every major museum in Southern California. The French master\u2019s son, filmmaker Jean Renoir, was nominated for an Oscar in 1946. Believe it or not, there\u2019s another Renoir working in Hollywood today, and he\u2019s a trailblazer in his own way. Meet Matthew Renoir \u2014 the great-great-grandson of the Impressionist painter…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":686947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/R52_4080-SPLASH-2025.jpg?w=1440&h=810&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[139156,1372],"class_list":["post-686946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-local","tag-streaming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}