An Askew View (follow-up)

Having finally had the book delivered and read it cover-to-cover, I have to say I quite enjoyed it.



It was pretty filled with insight, not just into the meanings of the films themselves but into their effect on film in general--Mallrats, for example, would've been nothing special had it been released in the era of films like American Pie or There's Something About Mary, but instead sets a precedent for these sort of films (although Mallrats has a certain emotional sincerity those films lack.) He also takes a look at Smithian language--"You can't look at one of my films, the way you can look at a Quentario flick, say, and tell it's mine...but if you close your eyes and just listen you'd be able to tell," Smith once said, and it's undeniably true. Brian O'Halloran, Clerks's Dante and a View Askew frequent, says "His dialogue becomes very story-like, and you can almost feel the peaks and valleys. It's very song-like and melodic..."

Being a man of self-depreciation, this book takes time and effort to lavish the (well-deserved) sort of praise on Smith that Smith would never lavish on himself. Anyone who's seen his flicks and wants insight not just into the mind but the filmmaking process of Kevin Smith should take a look.