Clerks ★★★★
THE ultra-low budget Clerks is one of those cinematic lightning in a bottle events.
It was made by a novice, Kevin Smith, and shot over a couple of weeks, principally in the convenience store where he used to work.
Smith enlisted the help of friends and even a couple of family members to play roles and could only film at night when the store was closed.
He took out a couple of loans to help raise the $20,000-odd it cost to make.
On its release in 1994 the film was a sleeper hit and earned more than $4 million, which might not seem a lot but was a phenomenal outcome from such a low base and expectations.
Smith just wanted to make a film and the tiny budget meant he just wrote about what he knew – his experiences at the store, the people he hung out with, some of the odd characters he met and conversations about life, love and the universe.
Back then, Smith was similar to millions of young Americans and the words, characters, relationships and attitudes to life he put on film were theirs as well.
His principal cast of Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Lisa Spoonhauer, Jason Mewes and Smith himself, weren’t great actors.
But the characters they created did seem authentic in an odd kind of way. . It presents a day in the lives of store clerks Dante Hicks (O’Halloran) and Randal Graves.
We’ve probably all been a frustrated, paranoid Dante and/or a smart arse Randall, even if only for a year, or month or just a day in our lives.
Certainly we’ve known and been frustrated and entertained by people like them.
And they’re damned funny spewing forth Smith’s crazy dialogue that marks one day in lives that has an equal balance of profound and meaningless moments, like most days of our lives.
In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Clerks the 16th-greatest comedy film of all time and in 2006 British film magazine Empire listed Clerks as the 4th greatest independent film.
Despite his early success, Smith himself never seems to have really changed and his fans love him for that.
I’m not a die-hard, but I’ve enjoyed almost everything he’s done and Chasing Amy is a particular highlight.
The first Clerks sequel, released in 2006, leaned more heavily into base comedy but still had its serious, touching moments.
The third instalment is out now. I’ve heard it’s average, but it’s hard to let these characters and Smith go.