Indie Gems: Clerks

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The start of the "askewniverse."

Black and white? Check. Hand held camera? Check. Unknown actors? Double check. Director Kevin Smith had to sacrifice a lot to make this film on such a minuscule budget. Then he had to deal with the MPAA slapping the film with an NC17 rating for swearing of all things. (It was later over turned) What he got out of this was a cult classic and the beginning of his popular reoccurring characters in Jay and Silent Bob.

Clerks follows Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) as he works at his local convenient store. Dante wasn't supposed to work that day, but he comes in anyways and has to deal with multiple issues that present themselves. Then there's his hanger on best friend Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson) who won't stop messing with his stupid customers. Everything in the world seems to be going wrong for Dante.

I've always enjoyed Kevin Smith's films.(minus Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back..that was just too much.) Clerks feels so real to me, like I'm listening to in an actual conversation my friends and acquaintances would be having. With references to Star Wars and Batman among other things, Clerks is hilarious and shines bright. It kick started Smith's career and paved the way for his other great films such as Mallrats and Dogma.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B+

Memorable Quote: "Jedi just ended with a bunch of muppets!" - Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran)

Comments

  1. RaghavMarch 18, 2012 at 2:20 PM

    Love his film and also the cartoons and maybe not love the second part but it's still fun.

    ReplyDelete

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