Chasing Amy is one of my favorite movies. Still is. It used to be my favorite at some point in my life. I think it was the first movie I ever declared as my favorite, being a question I would often avoid and ignore. But I realized if I watch a lot of movies, and like them, people are going to be coming at me with that question, so I better figure out an answer, and for some number of years, it was Chasing Amy.
I know some people have said Chasing Amy didn’t age well, or was always bad, and things like that. But I didn’t understand it. When I look back and reflect on Chasing Amy, I see a movie that was ahead of its time. On one view, one can say its about a guy making a lesbian turn straight, and being a complete dumbass at the same time. In another view, it is a film about someone with a fluid sexuality that is hard to define with labels, and despite one cis white hetero males dumb opinions, she is just trying to live the best life she knows how.
Sure enough, I was pretty excited to get to watch a documentary about how Chasing Amy affects someone’s life. In Chasing Chasing Amy, director Sav Rodgers, credits the film with saving his life as a kid in this Ted talk. Because (as you can see in the link), for Sav, this is the first time they ever saw a movie where there were Queer characters who had personalities and intelligence and not just the butt of a joke in some other movie. They watched it hundreds of times. And it helped them feel acceptance in the world, with themselves, and get them through high school and on.
So why not make a documentary about how it has changed his life? In more ways than one. And, also, the controversies behind it, how it got made, and is it a bad film now?
Quick Stop?! That isn’t in Chasing Amy! Shenanigans!
When it comes to Sav’s story, it is great the parallel’s of Chasing Amy and on his own life and in relationships, which the documentary goes out of its way to set up and highlight. In dealings with labels, and what it means to be in a relationship and what it means to be true to your body. It becomes a deeply personal story, and technically that is one of the main aspects of the film.
Now obviously a lot of the film is also about the making of, and impact of, Chasing Amy. Kevin Smith is in it a lot, and is an open book to Sav and to the documentary. Heck, Harvey Weinstein was talked about in this as well, given that being the promoter of the film and incidents he did during the film festivals at the time. Topics are all over the place, and yet, connected.
Despite all of this, the biggest and strongest takeaways from this documentary from Joey Lauren Adams. We had older interviews, and some with her and Kevin together, but Sav went to Adams’ house for a one-on-one to get more great shots for how Chasing Amy impacted her life and career and Sav’s. But what we get is a really raw and emotional interview, about her life in the film, and her relationship with Smith, and it just blew me away. It really puts a lot of things in a different context. It doesn’t take away from the other context, but it adds a deeper level to it all.
And honestly, it feels like a second epilogue to Chasing Amy (the first coming from Jay and Silent Bob Reboot).
Do I better understand where the LGBT+ community can both love and hate a film? Yes.
Do I better understand where the story came from? Yes.
Do I now hate the movie and Smith? Absolutely not.
More context to me gives me a greater impact and deeper understanding of the story. I don’t know the next time I watch it, but I do know when I do, I will reflect back on all of these things, and can’t wait to see how that changes things.