Clerks

BUY IT NOW!

When a conversation between film lovers takes a turn into the realm of the “indie”, Clerks is almost certainly one of the flicks that always has its name invoked.


It’s the way the characters talk that made Clerks such a breakthrough hit, and unlike anything cinema had seen before. Smith’s se of clever, witty, intelligent dialogue with many of the main characters (well…Except for Jay, perhaps) throughout the film ushered in a new era — A generation in which teens and young adults aren’t portrayed as sterotypical, brainless morons, but rather as quite insightful, important members of society. Shows like Dawson’s Creek have picked up on this vibe, and celebrated great success because of it. Smith was the first person to have Hollywood take notice of this style and paved the way for a new generation of filmmakers who, along with him, have brought great films that might have been missed into the public eye.


Clerks tells the tale of young Dante and Randal, two twenty-something dudes who work in a convience store and a video store, respectively, that just happen to be next to each other in a small, out of the way mini mall. As the curtain rises, Dante, our main protagonist, gets called into work to open the place, just after closing the night before (we’ve all been there, haven’t we?). Upon his arrival, the Randal, whom we soon discover is the more brutally wise-assed, slacker type of the pair, arrives at the video store after the film’s first couple of acts, sparking quite a number of philosophical discussions, ranging from relationships, movies, sex, annoying customers, life, and, let’s not forget, hermaphroditic porn. As the day’s events unfold, we’re treated to a cast of characters and events so unforgettable that you’re sure to want to immediately hit the play button again to experience it all, and share it with a friend, who’s bound to be as shocked and entertained as you were the first time you laid eyes upon it.

Alright, let’s talk about the DVD itself. I took the time to break out the Buena Vista Clerks laserdisc from a few years back for a side-by-side comparison of the sounds & picture quality.

Interestingly enough, I noticed a slightly brighter, more crisp picture on the DVD, which is a welcome surprise. I’m still assuming the same transfer from the laser was used, but perhaps due to DVD’s compression, it allowed for a bit more detail. Many backgrounds of the laserdisc looked soft and blurred, whereas the DVD was definitely more accurate. Also, there was just a SLIGHT bit of picture gain on both the left and right of the screen, maybe a half an inch on my 57 inch widescreen set, which will amount for considerably less, if not unnoticeable, gain on smaller TVs. In spots, some speckles and flaws are noticeable in the picture, but these are carried over from the original print of the film. I did not notice any shimmering or compression flaws as a result of the DVD transfer. In short: This is definitely the best looking version of Clerks on the market.


I MUST mention one gripe though, and that continues to be Buena Vista’s policy on NOT 16:9 enhancing their flicks. Whether they just plan to re-release stuff AGAIN on DVD when widescreen high definition televsion sets become the majority of the market, or if they just assume DVD won’t last into that era, I’ve no idea, but most other studios are now embracing the format, even enhancing ALL of their titles. NO title with the term “Special Edition” or “Collector’s Series” should be released without this feature, though. It’s inexcusible, and the reason I don’t purchase certain DVDs.

The sound on Clerks is an adequate standard Dolby Surround track. One could also argue that the flick COULD have been redubbed for a new 5.1 mix, but it’s hard to imagine what could be done with most of the dialogue driven, quiet scenes anyway. As it stands, I like the way that Clerks sounds, and think the mix used here is just fine.

The audio commentary track, recorded during the making of Mallrats, will throw many of you off who have become accustomed to listening to many of the more recently recorded tracks. A single microphone was used, mostly in Kevin’s hand during the picture, so only one voice (normally his) comes out very clearly. Many other people come and go in the room as the flick progresses (Jason Mewes stays, but sleeps though most of it), and when they DO throw in their two cents, they’re often difficult to hear. Rest assured, this isn’t a flaw of the DVD — I listened to the laserdisc commentary track and found all the sound levels to be identical. I loved this commentary when I first heard it on the laser, and continue to love it here on the DVD. I wouldn’t have expected or wanted a new commentary track recorded for this release and, after I’d heard Buena Vista at first wanted to drop the track altogether due to “inappropriate content”, I’m pleased that it was included.


As for the other extras, expect the EXACT same material that appeared on the laserdisc. No more, but no less, so this is a good thing. All of the extra material is accessible through the DVD’s menu. Soul Asylum’s “Can’t Even Tell” video, the controversial alternate (extended) ending for the film, and the other extras each have their own menu options. Something that Buena Vista did skimp on was the instant access to a particular extra scene, something that would have required another sub-menu on the DVD (was the budget really THAT tight?), requiring you to need to use chapter advance buttons to get to your favorite “extra” scene. A nitpick, sure, but one that could have been easily remedied. They did it fine with their “Good Will Hunting” disc. Things like this lead me to believe that Clerks was assembled in quite a hurry.


Could there have been more extras? Sure. A digital copy of Kevin’s original Clerks script (as it appears in the “Two Screenplays book) would have been outstanding, as would have a few of the other extra scenes that were placed online at the View Askew site, yet never included on the original laser. I would have also enjoyed it if Kevin and some others had recorded some extra commentary to go along with the deleted scenes, since a few of them run quite long. We don’t blame View Askew for this, as they LOVE packing as much material onto a release like this as they can (take the upcoming Mallrats Collector’s Edition, for example). From what we’ve heard, Buena Vista did NOT approach any of them for consultation or recommendations for the DVD release, other than to let them know the DVD was coming out and to share the menu designs with them.


A Reel Recommendations section, which suggests other films that Clerks fans may enjoy, lists Chasing Amy with the words COMING SOON underneath. We hope this doesn’t mean that Buena Vista will also release Amy, since Criterion owns the rights to the hilaroius commentary track and extras supplied to the laserdisc. Plus, Criterion has started to 16:9 enhance their films, and we were hoping for an Amy DVD containing at least the Criterion stuff and a new 16:9 transfer. With Buena Vista on board, we can kiss all of that goodbye.

When Clerks came out on laserdisc, it was a milestone, containing a humorous commentary track, and more extras that the average disc was accustomed to. With the DVD release, we can’t help but feel it as almost a shallow victory, one which brought an excellent film with some pretty cool extras to a new format, yet could have just been so much more. I feel that Clerks deserves that special kind of treatment, too. We pushed hard for Clerks to see DVD release, and won, yet now, as I look at the disc, it almost feels like a shallow victory.


In closing, do you want to buy this disc? Of course you do. Any fan of View Askew that owns a DVD player would be foolish not to make this purchase. I’d love to be one of those staunch folks that doesn’t throw down his hard-earned cash for DVDs that I thought could have been just a little bit better. But I couldn’t do in it this case. I love “Clerks” too much.