Home
sign up| reviews / member dvd review |
 content by: member |
|
When Kevin Smith's film debut Clerks was released back in 1994, it plugged straight into an audience that was still trying to articulate itself. Along with Richard Linklater's Slacker (a film that had a profound effect on Smith himself), Clerks expressed the frustrations and anxieties of a whole generation of people, aged in their late-teens and early-twenties, who were being raised on a diet of MTV, fast food and cultural apathy. Wasted potential and broken aspirations were all indicative of a general lack of direction, lack of drive or ambition, said to characterise what Copeland would have called the "Generation X". Clerks tells a day-in-the-life story of young man Dante Hicks: his spirit crushed by a daily grind working behind the counter of a local convenience store. Working on what was supposed to have been a day-off, we catch a glimpse of all the horrors of his typically mundane existence: from chewing-gum clogging the padlocks, to endless customer questions, to dead guys in the bathroom. Clerks skilfully crafts a story out of the nothingness of everyday life, and scales the mundane to truly melodramatic heights. Whimsy. If Dante has any respite at all, it comes in the form of wisecracking friend Randal, a man who shares both Dante's age and life situation (he works at a neighbouring video store). Randal and Dante essentially sit around and talk for the duration of the film, in a style that in many ways resembles the 'Show About Nothing' ethos of Seinfeld. Everyday life is discussed and observed with witty, ironic detachment. Whether it's a chat about pornography, customer service, or building contractors on the incomplete Imperialist Death Star, Kevin Smith weaves commonplace conversations into comic gold. Randal's sharp and incisive replies to customer questions are worth the price of this DVD alone. Not since Withnail & I has a film been so quotable. It's also worth noting that Clerks offers audiences the screen debut of Jay and Silent Bob, who haunt a street corner on the borderlands of the convenience store with some key clues towards the antics to come. Syntax. The film's black-and-white presentation has never been of optimum quality, as Clerks was shot on a shoe-string budget of sold comic books and maxed-out credit cards. But for many, the film's scruffy, high-contrast look contributes enormously to its mood and character. Having said that, fans with worn VHS copies will jump for joy at the new presentation of Clerks, complete with a significantly cleaner visual transfer, and all-new 5.1 audio courtesy of Skywalker Sound. Juxtaposition. This tenth anniversary DVD release comes in a three-disc package. The first disc is dedicated to the theatrical cut of the film, with a crisp audio track and restored visuals. This first disc can also be viewed with an optional commentary recorded during the production of Mallrats (circa 1995). The track offers a lively discussion of the film between principal cast and crew, who are always ready with anecdotes and explanations. There is also an optional trivia track, which provides onscreen information about the production of Clerks in a subtitled text-format. The second disc grants viewers the chance to see the original cut of the film, as screened to the critics and cineastes of the 1994 Sundance Film Festival; the original cut, with a number of scenes that diverge from the final theatrical release, is presented in its rough, original format. Poor sound and video quality pervade throughout: but it's still a pleasure to see Clerks as it would have originally been viewed. Disc two offers yet another audio commentary, featuring many of the same cast and crew, especially recorded for this tenth anniversary release. Catharsis. Kevin Smith and associates really have pulled out all of the stops for Clerks. I don't think that I have ever witnessed quite so many extras in one release before. The first two discs contain two editions of the film along with two audio commentaries, one 'lost scene' presented in an animated format, 'The Flying Car' (a TV short starring characters Dante and Randal), MTV Spots with Jay and Silent Bob, the original theatrical trailer, Smith's Soul Asylum music video, Clerks restoration intros and original cast audition footage. The exhaustive range of extras is accessible both to the casual fan and the Smith-obsessive as we move into the third and final disc. Firstly, there is an original film-school project written and directed by Smith and his producer Scott Mosier, entitled 'Mae Day: The Crumbling of a Documentary' (a documentary documenting its own failure as a documentary). There's a forty-minute Q&A session with fans of the film, recorded especially for the tenth anniversary. There is an exhaustive feature-length documentary entitled Snowball Effect: The Story of Clerks, which charts the early years of Kevin Smith and the magnitude of his debut's eventual success. There are around fifty minutes of interview outtakes originally recorded for the Snowball documentary. There is a still photo gallery, the chance to read excerpts from some of Kevin Smith's journals circa '93-94 and a variety of published articles surrounding the film by leading critics such as Amy Taubin. As if that wasn't enough, there's even a DVD-ROM feature that includes a copy of Kevin Smith's original Clerks script. Paradigm. Since its original release, Clerks is a film that has spoken to like-minded people across the world. Its unique comic sensibilities are perfectly suited to breath life into the mundane and the everyday. A film for the Generation X, Clerks offers something for anyone who's ever wanted to bunk off on a Monday morning. This DVD edition of the film is not only impeccably designed, but beautifully restored and meticulously detailed. I can honestly say I have never witnessed a DVD package that offers quite so much additional material (although DVD releases of the Alien Quartet are of a similar quality). Whether you're an obsessive fan, or just curious, this release is almost certain to please. So, when you've finished work, dim the lights and grab yourself a Salsa Shark - you'll never see life in quite the same way again!
 conversations
Read members' comments.
|
 |
related info
 useful links
note: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
see also
books  books and comics archive Author interviews and reviews from 2002 to 2008. talk  collective is closing Thanks to everyone who has supported the site over the years. |
send to a friend
more reviews by this member