Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Love makes no sense

I wish I liked Kevin Smith's movies more than I do. Every time I see one, I think that. But they just barely qualify as movies: they're more like filmed plays. That's not a bad thing, really. He's a great writer. But his camera just sits there, inert, while the pungent gabfest plays on. And it's always good stuff, funny stuff, but there's so much digression, digression loses its charm, its oomph, its function. Anyway, this is all preamble to me seeing Clerks II yesterday, with one other girl in the theater. I laughed a lot and fell in love with Rosario Dawson: the Jackson 5's "ABC" will never be the same for me. For once I was glad the camera stayed rock-steady.

Well aware of the romantic comedy cliche of the long-deferred declaration of love, Kevin still uses it but subverts it, maybe even perverts it, like no other film in mainstream movies. I kept waiting for the girl to walk out. Or me. But we stuck with it.

Bottom line: not bad, but not really essential. Look for a blink-length cameo by Viggo Mortenson.

***

Formatting Notes for UNP. They want it double-spaced and in 12 pt. Courier for proofing, which knocks it over one hundred pages. Wild.

I agreed to the contract today. Wilder still.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats!

RAD

Paul said...

Thanks, RAD!

Jeannine said...

I'm with you on Clerks II. I laughed a bunch of times, but I also had to think about something else for brief moments throughout the film to keep myself entertained. The best-looking I've ever seen Rosario Dawson look, it was like they put pixie dust on the camera whenever she was in the shot, and the dance scene, thumbs up. PS - in our theater of nine people, there were four females. Perhaps Seattlelite females have a higher tolerance for foul boy-humor.
Congrats on turning in your manuscript - now it's going to be a real book! I'm so excited for you.

Charles said...

I saw this film on a second date and wasn't aware there would be leather bear ass-effing involved.

It was a little awkward.

Paul said...

I saw it by myself and it was a little awkward.

Melanie said...

I got tired of Kevin Smith when I was teaching an Intro to Creative Writing class and all the fiction pieces were badly-played knockoffs. I know it's wrong to blame him for what others do, but it definitely made me less tolerant of things that I was fine with before that.

I liked Clerks, was alright with Clerks II. Now I'm just bored.

Amanda Auchter said...

I'm a little nervous about a Clerks sequel, not entirely being a fan of sequels in general. I've heard mixed reviews of Clerks.

Congrats on your book! I'm so happy for you!

DaNcEr said...

well writen...!! i like your complexcity in your simplicity

cornshake said...

viggo!?

Paul said...

Ok, so it wasn't Viggo, apparently. I thought it was. It's Scott Mosier, one of Kevin's pals. He's on screen for about a second and speaks one line, which includes the word "wee-wee."

cornshake said...

um, yeah. Viggo would *definitely* not have said "wee-wee."