Clerks

This is the first film of Kevin Smith, who directed my favourite current film, Chasing Amy.
I missed Clerks when it was at the cinemas, and have just caught up with it on video.

I guess the first thing to say is this is one of those (rare) films where I don't think it matters that you don't see it in a cinema. It is shot in grainy black-and-white in a jerky, funky style which works well on the small screen. You'd think first-time-director Smith is deliberately downplaying his camerawork in a display of humility. In fact, I believe it was shot in the New Jersey convenience store for $27,000. It looks like it. And yet, with his third film, Chasing Amy, he hasn't progressed much, visually. The man still just points the camera at the characters and shoots. It works...

Clerks is funny, filthy and lighthearted, but it is really more interesting as a forerunner of Chasing Amy than it is in its own right. The issues Smith begins to explore in Clerks reach maturity in Chasing Amy. But it is quite fascinating to see the germs of the ideas as Smith dealt with them 3 years earlier. The fabulous Jay and Silent Bob appear for the first time here, as does the name "Alyssa Jones".

Now I really must catch up with Mallrats, the middle film of the Smith oeuvre.