Day 176 - Clerks



Day 176          Clerks [1994]
                          
Screenplay                    Kevin Smith
Director                         Kevin Smith
Cinematography            David Klein
Music                            Benjie Gordon
Leads                            Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigiliotti, Lisa Spoonauer, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Walt Flanagan, Ernest O’Donnell, Scott Schiaffo
Production                     View Askew Productions

IMDb                                 7.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes                88%

I love this film. It’s so simple, so quotable and a brilliant example of the indie generation of film. Kevin Smith made this film with only $27,575, filming it in the convenience store and video store that he worked at in real life. It’s structured in mini episodes over the course of a day in the life of the two clerks, Dante (O’Halloran) and Randal (Anderson). It’s hard to explain why this film is so good. The acting is amateurish, and it looks like it was filmed on a mobile from the early 2000s. Credit has to go for Smith for his writing. It perfectly captures the feelings of the youth of that day without being up its own ass. The humour is so dry that if you aren’t concentrating it will go right past you. Lines such as ‘you’re living in denial and suppressing rage motherfucker’ are delivered just right and others such as ‘she died mid-backstroke’ are slipped into conversation as if commonplace. Smith uses words intelligently such as when Dante is in conversation with his girlfriend Veronica (Ghigliotti) he says he is making a broad generalisation and her retort is that Dante is actually making a generalisation about broads. It’s basic, pithy lines such as this which make Clerks a cult classic. Let’s not forget about Jay (Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith himself), the drug dealers who appear to be miscreants for the entire film, but then have relationship advice for Dante far beyond their years. It’s a film that deserves its cult status, and I’m sure there are many like it that didn’t make a name for themselves. Kudos to Smith and his cast for proving Hollywood isn’t all about big money and stars.

Acting                              3 / 4
Writing                          3.5 / 4
Cinematography               3 / 4
Music                            1.5 / 4
HWF rating              3.5 / 4

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