Clerks - the slow keepers

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Clerks - the slow keepers
Original title Clerks
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1994
length 90 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Kevin Smith
script Kevin Smith
production Scott Mosier
Kevin Smith
camera David Klein
cut Scott Mosier
Kevin Smith
occupation
chronology

Successor  →
Clerks II

Clerks - Die Ladenhüter (Original title: Clerks ) is a comedy film and low budget production by the American director Kevin Smith , who also wrote the screenplay . The film, shot in black and white, was released in 1994 and is Smith's first work. The film introduces the characters Jay and Silent Bob , who also appear in later films by the director, the so-called " New Jersey films ".

content

Dante is 22 years old and works in quick stop. His friend Randal from the video rental company next door accompanies him through the boring everyday work. Dante's morning starts badly, he is woken up after a short sleep and has to come to work on his day off. The shutters do not open in the Quick-Stop because the locks were stuck with chewing gum. To make matters worse, all sorts of strange customers come to the store: militant non-smokers, the dealers Jay and Silent Bob, a crazy school advisor looking for the perfect egg.

In the course of the film, Dante learns that his girlfriend Veronica had oral sex when she was 37 men and that his old love Caitlin wants to marry, and an old school friend died of an embolism while swimming . Randal proves to him that things can get worse in his hitherto quiet life. Thanks to him, he is in constant contact with angry customers who come straight from the video store and take out their bad mood on him. Randal screwed up the funeral of the late school friend and gave Dante a $ 500 fine for selling cigarettes to a 4-year-old. Despite all the other unpleasant surprises of the day, in the end the two understand each other perfectly and philosophize about life , death , sex and Star Wars .

background

History of origin

Clerks is Kevin Smith's first film. He was only 24 years old when he shot it. It was financed by the filmmakers out of their own pockets. According to the production company, the budget for the film was just over US $ 27,000, and much of the money was used for the song rights to the soundtrack. To raise the money for the film, Kevin Smith sold his extensive comic book collection, among other things.

The film was filmed on location in two real stores in New Jersey . For reasons of cost, the film was mainly filmed at night, which is why the idea of ​​the Quick-Stop's non-opening roller shutters arose: It was easy to suggest that it was daytime. There is an alternate ending to the film in which Dante is shot dead by a robber at the end.

The film was edited by Scott Mosier and Kevin Smith in the video store next to the convenience store.

A member of the Sundance Film Festival crew became aware of the film and it was screened at the festival in January 1994. Miramax launched the film a few months before the studio released Pulp Fiction .

The MPAA initially gave the film an NC-17 approval (not under 17 years of age) due to the sometimes hearty dialogues, although the film does not feature any violence or nude scenes. Such a rating would have been a financial catastrophe in the US, as there are hardly any cinemas showing NC-17 films in the US. The sales company Miramax , with the help of the lawyer Alan Dershowitz, took action against the rating and achieved an R rating , so that under 17-year-olds were allowed to see the film accompanied by an adult. In Germany, the film was released from the age of 12. The film brought in more than a hundred times its production costs.

Actors and characters

The characters Jay and Silent Bob appear in many Kevin Smith films (see also New Jersey films ). Director Smith knew Jason Mewes before and really wanted him in his films. He describes it as a "sonic boom with dirt on it". He contrasted the chattering Jay with the character of the very quiet Silent Bob , played by Smith himself. The actors Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson and Walter Flanagan and Scott Mosier also star in Smith's later films. There are also more subtle connections: Heather Jones in Clerks is the sister of Tricia Jones in Mallrats and Alyssa Jones in Chasing Amy .

Follow-up projects

The film was followed by the 6-part animated series Clerks - The cartoon and later the short film The flying car .

The scene in which Dante and Randal blow up the funeral of Dante's former school crush is not shown explicitly in the film, but only hinted at. The missing scene was later published as an animation under Clerks - The lost scene .

Smith remained largely true to the milieu that he shows in Clerks in the subsequent film Mallrats as well as in his later films . In 2006 he made a direct follow-up film, Clerks II .

In 2013 the studio Vivid Entertainment Group released a porn parody, entitled: Clerks XXX - A Porn Parody .

Reviews

"A simple, but entertainingly staged debut film that depicts the search of young adults for orientation with lots of - even obscene - jokes, without claiming to be a generally applicable youth portrait."

- Lexicon of International Films

"In the context of the possibilities of a low-budget production, Smith shows great inventiveness, a natural feeling for human comedy and the ability to write strange and sometimes brilliant dialogue."

- Roger Ebert

Awards

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to Clerks published by Sony Music contains the mostly alluded grunge songs, some of which are from very well-known bands in the grunge scene, and also individual quotes and dialogues in the original English, such as Dante's lament "I'm not even supposed to be here today ".

Clerks is one of the few films where the music rights were more expensive than the production costs of the entire film.

  1. Dante's Lament
  2. Love Among Freaks - Clerks
  3. Girls Against Boys - Kill the Sex Player
  4. “No Time for Love Dr. Jones"
  5. Alice in Chains - Got Me Wrong
  6. Randal and Dante on Sex
  7. Bash & Pop - Making Me Sick
  8. "A Bunch of Muppets"
  9. Supernova - Chewbacca
  10. The Jesus Lizard - Panic In Cicero
  11. Golden Smog - Shooting Star
  12. Bad Religion - Leaders and Followers
  13. "I Like To Expand My Horizons"
  14. Stabbing Westward - Violent Mood Swings
  15. Love Among Freaks - Berserk
  16. Corrosion of Conformity - Big Problems
  17. Seaweed - Go Your Own Way
  18. "Social Event of the Season"
  19. Soul Asylum - Can't Even Tell
  20. Jay's chant

literature

  • John Pierson: Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes, London 1996 (English, with a chapter on the film)

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b website of the film , accessed January 10, 2008
  2. ↑ cf. Kevin Smith: Clerks, Faber & Faber London, 2000 (Original Screenplay)
  3. ↑ The classification NC-17 was introduced in the USA in 1990 and initially meant that no children ( NC = no children ) under 17 were allowed to see the film. It was not until 1996, two years after Clerks was published , that NC-17 was extended by a further year of life, so that today it corresponds to the German FSK from 18 .
  4. ↑ IMDb Business Info
  5. ↑ a b Web chat with Smith and John Pierson , accessed November 25, 2009
  6. ^ Clerks - the slow-moving in the lexicon of international films Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used
  7. ↑ Roger Ebert on November 4, 1994 in the Chicago Sun Times
  8. ^ Production company's website: Soundtrack
  9. ↑ Website of the production company: Sounds