Director: Kevin Smith
Year: 1994 Country: U.S. Genre: Comedy Rating: 8.5/10
Cast: Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Lisa Spoonauer, Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith
The plot is a day in the life of Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) counter an employee of a small convenience store, the legendary " Quick Stop." Dante spends the day dealing with situations ranging from farce to tragedy, including several that combine both approaches. With "Clerks" (titled in Latin as "ATM"), Smith created a brilliant film, extremely low budget, but with a biting script as innovatively captured the unanimous approval from critics and the public. It appears that the prestigious Sundance independent film festival every year comes a child prodigy with his supposed new love to the specialized public view and the legendary executives Hollywood, eager to find (and exploit) something that gives them new credibility and prestige within the film community. Sometimes such a talent emerges, as in the case of Steven Soderbergh, in many cases (I will not mention names) we are never heard of the miracle. In the case of Kevin Smith, for better or for worse, there was a mixture of both situations, his first film, premiered at Sundance, was "Clerks" and was so well received that he predicted a bright future in film study. However, the sensitivity of Smith is so particular that, outside their small but fanatical cult of fans, has had difficulty in achieving economic success (synonymous with prestige in Hollywood) who predicted that insurance expected success.
When you start the movie, Dante gets the bad news that has to work, albeit part time, on his day off to cover the absence of local owner who has some things do. Dante comes reluctantly and with their eternal mantra "I should not even be here today!" faces his friend Randall Graves (Jeff Anderson), an employee of the neighboring counter establishment "RST Video", a tiny video store that caters to people with the worst possible taste. This duo, from the start, representing opposite sides of the same coin. Both have the greatest contempt for the customers who come to health facilities, but at least pretends Dante courtesy and competence, while Randall is actively rude and aggressive towards customers. Throughout the day the two friends engaged in a series of talks under the vulgar humor, hide a genuine analysis of the popular ideology of our times. From romantic relationships to "The Return of the Jedi", any excuse is good for the vocal sparring between these two characters. Eventually the story takes a different turn with the appearance of Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti), Dante's girlfriend. It is clear that she really cares about him and his future suggesting that he return to school and does not consider the "Quick Stop" as his lifelong career.
Dante appreciated the advice, but it is something more urgent in mind: just found out that his ex-girlfriend, Caitlin (Lisa Spoonauer), is about to marry another man. Despite his affection for his girlfriend, Dante still harbors strong feelings for Caitlin, and this new situation unleashed another string of semi-deep conversations with Randall. Additionally, there are several occurrences in the day that show the idiosyncrasies of the young people of Red Bank, a small town in New Jersey where it develops history and where the director grew up. As you hear, "Clerks" is basically an hour and half of parliament and discussions, limited to a few locations. Call it a sort of "My Dinner with Andre" (1981) for contemporary young audiences. The characters are as colorful and as fiercely incisive dialogue that we do not need decorations to keep it interesting film. Although the performances are generally poor and not very polished, the general tone of the film and his attitude, but subversive kind, resulting in a film that strikes a good balance between humor and drama, realism and absurdity, between aggression and melancholy. In his first film, his already mythical characters are born Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith himself), which function as observers and commentators of the events they witness, and his appearances mark key points for the characters in any of the tapes in which they appear ... but I'll talk about that in future posts.
The direction and cinematography are minimal and perfectly complement the simple story. Which is filmed in black and white is a business decision, but also helped the narrative, as the coarse grain and poor lighting lend a documentary tone that emphasizes the realism of the characters. The flat direction of Smith seemed a decision art, but as demonstrated in his later works, such simplicity is because it is a bad director. He himself has acknowledged this, so trying to adapt their scripts to their particular style (or lack thereof). In the context of the entire film career of Smith's "Clerks" proved to be the first in a series of films dealing with the same family of characters and places. This decision goes far beyond being a small private joke. Smith has created a rich mythology, characters and relationships, while retaining the simplicity of life in a small town, but emotionally are an epic which should be studied thoroughly to appreciate the detail and attention that has been applied the brilliant scripts. Which brings us to the ineffable couple Jay and Silent Bob. This pair of thugs form the junction between all the movies of Kevin Smith. I still remember wanting to sneak a schizophrenic Jay his cousin next to Bob since then and knew no longer be so silently. And every character is a world in this most excellent pachanga between buddies, each with their concerns, desires, phobias and problems. The fact is that life really is just as chaotic as in "Clerks."
addition the strength of "Clerks" lies in its ability to shape a whole generation with a humor shares soaring. The easy joke here occupies a fairly large hole, but not in any way, but seamlessly integrated into a dynamic story, agile, full of pace and crude and scatological situations. And it all ends here, no way, because throughout the film our heroes and the whole troop of fanciful characters that come and go in the store, are participants in dialogues full of culture "freak." No matter how many times Ben Stiller claimed that "The Harsh Reality" (1995) had filmed the movie is more representative of "Generation X" because in reality the same year a certain Kevin Smith would take the honor with "Clerks," his first feature. But what is Generation X? It is one of these terms without a clear definition, but to understand, every time someone uses this term, talks about some young teenager who lived in the 80's. A generation characterized by a radical break with their parents, thus also coining the adjective "Forgotten Generation", thus referring to all young people driven by a deep sense of disappointment, saw myths television / film / music of the time the closest thing to a father figure.
In the film there are constant moments of reflection, because Dante looks completely undecided with what to do with your life, do not know whether to continue with their studies or continue working in the store. Randall is different, is accommodated and is fully aware of their situation in life, because he knows no more. Are two opposing positions in more than a spectator will be reflected. For this reason, despite its comic tone, "Clerks" is also bitter in that regard. If this were not enough budget for a decent mount more, better lighting or a photograph with fewer defects, little can matter, since "Clerks" is benefiting from the independent scurfy appearance that characterizes it. "Clerks" is a modest work of art, which combines the vulgarity, the humor and drama to get a deep result , aware of the inherent contradictions of the human condition, and eminently enjoyable. I think the debut of Kevin Smith is laudable, who under the inspiration of Jim Jarmusch and Richard Linklatter (independent film icons), to make a film still lack the proper training, and managed to succeed despite their obvious limitations. Widely recommended by both their own and achieve the important part played in the future work of Smith. It is definitely a work of vital vision for the movie buff, almost the best movie of Kevin Smith, along with the second part of the same title, the outstanding "Clerks 2", which I will later in the blog.
"A milestone in the Independent Film"
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