MY SISTER, KATH, IS KEVIN SMITH
(BE WARNED - THERE ARE SPOILERS TO “STAND BY ME”, HERE)
You know, life’s weird sometimes. Take tonight for instance. Right now I’m supposed to be finishing my excellent and thorough post on why the banks have learnt nothing since 2008, but I can’t . . . Really, I just can’t. And why is this? Well I’ll tell you.
In 1994 the above Mister Smith decided that the movies being made today were all shit and that he could do a better job, so taking a black and white camera, filming at the convenience store where he worked and maxing out a number of credit cards he made the black and white cult hit “CLERKS”. Said film became a festival hit and was later distributed by Miramax to modest success. He was then picked up to make a much bigger film and so wrote and directed “MALLRATS” (1995) which, while funny in parts, feels at times more like a collection of funny ideas rather than a joined together whole. One critic pointed this out and said that the best things in the film where when Kevin Smith was addressing the audience with something personal to say. Mr Smith Started work on “CHASING AMY” that night.
"CHASING AMY" is one of my favourite films of the nineties. It stars Ben Affleck before he became a star and really showcased Jason Lee’s magnificent comic timing. It also has some of my favourite scripted moments in any film and is a joyous feast for any fan of film dialogue with so many great lines that I couldn’t even pick a favourite but I’m forced to, so, although the monologue in the car is GREAT, the black-rage scene is AWESOME (as is the Jaws scene, the Jay and Silent Bob bit, etc etc) I’m gonna pick “You’re a tracer” as the moment to share with you.
You see the thing that separates "CHASING AMY" from so many other films is that you feel that the film-maker is making something that feels immensely personal. We feel like we are looking into their world, that they’re bringing us into what they are and who they are and because it all feels so true and accurate we feel privileged that we’ve been allowed this peek in.
Which brings me to tonight.
Like I said I should be writing about how the banks haven’t learnt anything but I had a personal moment where I was let into someone’s world and so I have to comment on that instead.
3 years ago a close friend of my sister took her own life. I can’t write about or talk about it without feeling upset myself, so lord knows how my sister feels. But tonight, to some degree, she brought that across and she did it doing what she does best . . . She did it within a film review.
“STAND BY ME” based on “The Body” from the Stephen King collection of short (ish) stories “DIFFERENT SEASONS (Which also features “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” . . . How good was Stephen King around this time?) is a great film. It’s funny, moving, touching, uplifting and tragic, pretty much everything life is really, and as it was showing at her cinema she went to see it. Recently she has faced criticism from some people for going on about the personal side of seeing the movies and other connected issues, now, I like this. Kath isn’t some reviewer getting paid to sit in a cinema with loads of other critics churning out exactly the same reviews as everyone else, she is a paying customer and I think the reviews should reflect this, BUT, recent films have been more austere, and I feel like Kath’s best reviews are when she has something personal to say (The 8 Harry Potter films on her website are a SUPERB example of this). Tonight not only did she have something personal to say but her review brought me to tears. It covers the film superbly, it’s emotional impact on her as a teenager to how it shaped her into the great person she is fantastic and the parallel between Gordie and Chris’ friendship and the tragic end to her own friendship with Maz is just perfect.
It is the “IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE” of film reviews and for those people who regularly read my blog, if you’ve seen the film please take a look, you won’t regret it.
“I finally had something personal to say.”
Good night, y’all.
http://www.geekinvaders.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/kevin_smith_01.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4d/Stand_by_me_poster.jpg/220px-Stand_by_me_poster.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epHCMiCtt3M
...and now I'm crying at your blog. I guess I deserved it for making you cry at mine! Thanks bro. Really.
ReplyDeleteYou know the thing is my knowledge of all that comes from the screenplay book you got me for Chasing Amy and Clerks.
ReplyDeleteBut it fitted really nicely and the TRACER scene is fucking hilarious