The post title not only refers to Clerks being my gateway into the world of independent film, but also refers to it being the first of six movies to take place in the same fictional universe, tied together by two characters. Jay and Silent Bob. I tried really hard not to see this movie because of them. I saw part of Dogma a few years after it came out and before all my tastes and preferences fully developed. I was probably a sophomore in high school when I saw the few scenes that I did (it came out the year before I started high school), and I was really turned off by it. Jay especially didn't sit right with me. A few months later, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was released, and all the trailers looked horrible. I realized that there were a few movies featuring the characters, and decided to avoid them. Then one day, I was at a friend's house, and Clerks came on. I didn't realize it was a "Jay and Silent Bob movie" at first, but when I did, I wanted to change the channel. He told me I'd enjoy the movie. He was right.
Clerks is both very good and very bad, but a lot of its badness isn't the fault of writer/director Kevin Smith. Smith made the movie for $28,000 and it certainly shows. There is no elaborate editing, no one is a professional actor, the lighting in the outdoor scenes at night is pretty bad, and the fact that it is in black and white was a practical, rather than artistic, choice (not that being in black and white makes a movie "bad"). Smith spent nearly every cent he had making the movie. Most people told him he was an idiot for wasting everything on some film, but he ended up becoming one of those rare successes because the movie ended up grossing over $3 million.
The story follows convenience store clerk Dante Hicks, a twenty-something whose life has gone nowhere. He is a college dropout who still lives at home and works at the local convenience store, and constantly feels sorry for himself that he has such a shitty life. Over the course of a day, which was supposed to be his day off, we watch him deal with bizarre customers, local drug pushers (Jay and Silent Bob), people he went to high school with, and his unfaithful ex-girlfriend. He also puts up with/barely tolerates Randal Graves, the clerk at the adjoining video (as in videocassette) rental place who is supposed to be his best friend. Unlike the reserved and repressed Dante, Randal is chaos personified; everywhere he goes, some kind of ruin eventually follows. He usually (hilariously) mistreats customers much to Dante's chagrin (mainly because he is left cleaning up the mess), but he is also responsible for one of the most depraved events the movie never reveals (unless you watch the Lost Scene on the 10th Anniversary DVD). Randal is also the funniest character in the movie, even though actor Jeff Anderson, who had never acted before, had some trouble with some of his line readings.
Like the other two movies to be featured, there isn't really a story to speak of. Rather, Clerks is composed of a series of events at a convenience store. It is an intense look at the life of a convenience store clerk (or one from mid-90s Jersey), focusing on the bad hours, strange people, and potentially only coping mechanisms for putting up with the job. In a sense, it shows two sides of the job; on one hand, Randal represents a slacker's dream, watching movies all day, hanging out with his best friend in a low-stress environment, and eating/drinking free junk food/Gatorade. Dante represents the person who is stuck in a dead-end, unsatisfying job (Randal is too, to a degree, which is why I am reluctant to say that the film presents both sides). He wants a better job, a better life, but is too lazy and/or stubborn to go for it.
Clerks is hilarious for its look at the life of a clerk as well as for its pop culture references. Smith sold his extensive comic book collection to help finance the movie, and his love of films, television, and comics clearly shines through in his writing. The independent-contractors-on-the-Death-Star discussion, the salsa shark, the terrible movie choices of the customers are all amazing scenes that help geeks feel better by showing that they aren't alone.
Up next: Getting LOST one last time...
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