Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Chasing Amy, the Film I Love the Most...
Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic drama with comedy laced in-between. It was written and directed by Kevin Smith, most famous for his View Askew films. (Chasing Amy is included in the View Askewniverse, by the way.) The film stars two now-famous actors, Ben Affleck (Who would go on to win two Academy Awards for Good Will Hunting and Argo.) and Jason Lee (Famous for My Name is Earl and Alvin and the Chipmunks 1, 2 & 3) before they hit their respective status as A-list actors. In addition, it stars Joey Lauren Adams (Of Big Daddy, Dazed and Confused and Bio-Dome fame) as the love interest for Ben Affleck. (Coincidentally, Joey Lauren Adams was the real-life girlfriend of Kevin Smith at the time.)
This isn't any regular romantic film, you see. This one set itself apart for a variety of reasons (Ignoring the fact that it has openly homosexual characters.):
1. It was made independently. Originally to cost 1-2 million dollars with a cast consisting of Jon Stewart, David Schwimmer and Drew Barrymore. However, Kevin wanted to keep his cast of Ben, Jason and Joey and so with a budget of only $250,000; he made this flick with complete control.
2. It was only two votes away from an Academy Award nomination. The details aren't specific, but I assume it's safe to say that it would have been for either Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay or Best Supporting Actor for Jason Lee. Mostly because those are the nominations it received from the Spirit Awards. (Winning both Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Jason Lee, respectively.)
3. The titular "Amy" is not a character in the film; it's an expression coined by Silent Bob in his climatic speech near the end of the picture. This is rare for films to use a title that only comes into play at the tail-end of it.
Amy is not your average romantic-drama-comedy; it's far beyond it. It's a serious, interesting and truthful story about love, emotions and dealing with a lover's past. The comedy mainly in the beginning and from there it's scattered in-between the intense scenes to make it not such a morose, dumpy film. Because of the comedy, as well as Kevin Smith's status as a comedic director; this film was unfairly labelled as nothing more than another typical romantic comedy. Which is very, very unfortunate as it truly one of the greatest romances ever committed to cinema. ((500) Days of Summer and The Graduate are very close, though.)
Please go view this film; it's available for instant watch on Netflix and I'm certain you could find it online for free too. This is the most impacting film I have ever watched, and maybe it will be for you too.
This isn't any regular romantic film, you see. This one set itself apart for a variety of reasons (Ignoring the fact that it has openly homosexual characters.):
1. It was made independently. Originally to cost 1-2 million dollars with a cast consisting of Jon Stewart, David Schwimmer and Drew Barrymore. However, Kevin wanted to keep his cast of Ben, Jason and Joey and so with a budget of only $250,000; he made this flick with complete control.
2. It was only two votes away from an Academy Award nomination. The details aren't specific, but I assume it's safe to say that it would have been for either Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay or Best Supporting Actor for Jason Lee. Mostly because those are the nominations it received from the Spirit Awards. (Winning both Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Jason Lee, respectively.)
3. The titular "Amy" is not a character in the film; it's an expression coined by Silent Bob in his climatic speech near the end of the picture. This is rare for films to use a title that only comes into play at the tail-end of it.
Amy is not your average romantic-drama-comedy; it's far beyond it. It's a serious, interesting and truthful story about love, emotions and dealing with a lover's past. The comedy mainly in the beginning and from there it's scattered in-between the intense scenes to make it not such a morose, dumpy film. Because of the comedy, as well as Kevin Smith's status as a comedic director; this film was unfairly labelled as nothing more than another typical romantic comedy. Which is very, very unfortunate as it truly one of the greatest romances ever committed to cinema. ((500) Days of Summer and The Graduate are very close, though.)
Please go view this film; it's available for instant watch on Netflix and I'm certain you could find it online for free too. This is the most impacting film I have ever watched, and maybe it will be for you too.
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