Kevin Smith: From Genius to Crybaby

Time was, I had a lot of respect for Kevin Smith. In fact, he was probably one of my favourite directors out there. He had a run of films that most directors would kill for, which ran for almost a decade.

His first film, Clerks, speaks for itself. Shot in black and white, on zero budget, the vulgar look at convenience store life was unlike anything that came before it. Next was Mallrats, an attempt to replicate the style of Clerks, but with a studio budget, which didn't get the same critical reception, but I found it to be a tremendously enjoyable comedy.

Next up was my personal favourite, Chasing Amy, followed by the controversial (but brilliant) Dogma. Then he gave his Jay & Silent Bob characters their own film, '...Strike Back', which was also great fun.

After that, Smith left the 'View Askewniverse' behind and made Jersey Girl, which got promptly ripped to pieces. Personally, I didn't mind it, in a disposable, watch once kinda way. With that, Smith returned and made another great Clerks film, and things looked like things were back the way they were.

I guess the beginning of the end was when he made Cop Out. Essentially, Smith wanted to outlaw critics reviewing the film after it started to receive an absolute pasting from them. The argument was "why do critics get to see my film for free, and slate it, when the public has to pay?"

The answer, of course, is because if the critics like the film, they'll give it a good write up etc. which may encourage some people to go see it, who wouldn't have before. But this wasn't good enough, I guess. In Mark Kermode's new book, he actually tells the story of electing to pay to see it at the cinema, hating it, THEN blasting it.

Of course, critics weren't the only people who hated Cop Out. The vast proportion of people who went to see it did also. I didn't catch it until it came out on Blu-Ray, and rented it from LoveFilm, with a completely open mind. It was Kevin Smith after all, he deserved the chance, even if I found the whole critic rant thing a bit odd.

I thought Cop Out was fucking diabolical (see the review here) but, it was not as if I had written the guy off as a director (although I was a bit worried about his next film), I'm sure next time he would be back to his best. And he was. Red State (click here) was fantastic, really exceeded expectations.

But what finally did it for me was a by-product of Red State (and nothing to do with the rant against the airlines he had for them kicking him off the flight due to his weight. That rant was deserved, but he did milk it a LOT), and it was the nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards.

This years nominations include Drive. Now that's all I should say, really. Drive is probably the best film I have seen this year, and there has been a lot of good stuff out this year. Other films nominated include Take Shelter, The Artist, and The Descendents. Previous winners include Platoon, Pulp Fiction, Leaving Las Vegas, Fargo, Memento, The Wrestler and Black Swan.

As much as I enjoyed Red State, it's not close to any of those films. And even though it's not really, it's still viewed as a horror, a genre which rarely gets any award credit. But regardless of that, it's a great film, with great performances, but it's not award worthy, it's just not.

So Kevin Smith tweeted the following...

"How the fuck did the @SpiritAwards not nominate Michael Parks? Nor John Goodman? Nor Melissa Leo? Fuck your idiotic organization. #FakeIndie"

Crash! Bang! Smash! The sound of toys landing after being hurled from Kevin Smith's pram. Is this guy actually serious? Even if his film contained performances not seen since the glory days of De Niro, you don't post a petulant, whining tweet about how "fake" the awards are. Is it because Smith chose to distribute the film himself, touring it nationwide, he felt that automatically should include him in any 'Independent' awards?

Emilio Estevez toured his film 'The Way' (a film that was better, in my mind, than Red State) across America, and it was never released by a huge studio, making that quite the independent project, but have you heard him pitch a fit because he didn't get any award nods? Nope. Because that's not what grown up professionals do. The accolades of the viewing audience should suffice, and any awards it garners are just a nice bonus.

To end, consider this final fact. Even though Smith had boycotted critics after the theatrical failure of Cop Out,  the UK distribution company for Red State still contacted Mark Kermode asking if they could use a quote from his positive review for the movie's poster. Considering Smith's hands on approach to the distribution of this film, he must have known that people were contacting critics for permission to use positive quotes right? The same critics he didn't need a couple of years back?

Apparently, Smith's next film (or films, if it ends up being a two parter) is his long awaited (for him) hockey film Hit Somebody, then it's onto just concentrating on his podcast network (and I'm sure he'll do well at it, he is still a funny guy when he's not repeating the same old stories), but after his behaviour and the total loss of respect I have for the man, this is one former fan that won't be watching. And that's a real shame. At least I have his back catalogue to keep me entertained.

Film Review: Red State

After the rather poor showing in his last film 'Cop Out', I was understandably a bit nervous about Kevin Smiths latest 'Red State'. Like 'Cop Out' it was a departure from the usual sort of thing Smith does, and the last time that happened was the much derided (but actually quite sweet I thought) 'Jersey Girl'.

Red State is a departure not just from the 'View Askewniverse' and comedy/drama but from anything Smith has ever done before. It's a very serious film about a very serious subject (not to say there isn't the odd amusing moment in it) and Smith handles it with aplomb.

Answering an online invitation for sex, three teenage boys found themselves kidnapped by religious fundamentalists that have nasty plans for them. Or as Smith himself put it "Three teenage boys go looking for sex, but find God".

So far, so horror film right? Wrong. Most of the criticisms I have seen for Red State is from people expecting a balls out horror movie, and that just isn't Red State. Sure, it's horrific enough with the subject matter and there are a few quite unpleasant scenes, but nothing you'd classify as horror. It's plenty disturbing, mainly because this could quite easily happen in real life.

What also enhances the film is it's low budget. Apparently it's Smiths lowest budget since Chasing Amy, and the film really benefits with the glossiness that most other filmmakers would give it (and they'd turn it into a horror film, also.)

Smith has assembled a fantastic cast too, Michael Parks being the standout as the utterly bonkers preacher Abin Cooper. Parks puts his all into the performance, and is genuinely creepy throughout, almost believable at times. Similarly, and sadly not with as much screen time is Melissa Leo as Sara, one of Coopers flock.

A relative latecomer in the film is John Goodman as the ATF agent tasked with taking down the fundamentalists. While he never really gives a substandard performance, this is probably one of the best roles he's had in years. And Stephen Root is fantastic in a small role as the Sheriff of the town, who is guarding a secret of his own.

There's also a lot of other great actors in small roles. Viewers of Breaking Bad and Mad Men will recognise a face or two throughout. But that is where the only problem with the film lies. All this talent, and they don't have enough screen time (with the exception of Parks and Goodman). I just wish it was 10 or 15 minutes longer so we could spend more time with these characters. Especially Stephen Root, whose character almost felt relegated when Goodmans showed up.

But it's a minor quibble in a great film. And while I wouldn't have minded that extra time, the film doesn't outstay it's welcome, which is always a good thing and possesses more shocking moments than a horror movie version of this ever could.

After this, Smith is doing a project close to his heart - hockey movie 'Hit Somebody', and then rumours have it that he is leaving directing to concentrate on his ever expanding podcast network. I sincerely hope that this isn't the case, because Red State proves that Smith is capable of doing more than Jay and Silent Bob, and 'Cop Out' was a misstep (Hell, even I questioned his flare of a director during my review of that). Worth checking out whether you're a Smith fan or not.

****
If you don't go in expecting a horror, you'll come out with a lot more than if you did. Just a shame some of the cast only get small roles, you want to see more of them!