2023 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW!
In 1997 Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy took the world by storm–instantly igniting a conversation about lesbian culture and whether or not this film supported or hindered it. When filmmaker Sav Rodgers was twelve years old, he discovered the film, and it changed his life for the better. For the first time he saw a film that accurately represented him, a film where he could see himself in a lead role. Now it’s 2023, and Sav is making a documentary aimed at showcasing the beauty of Smith’s film and the profound effect that it had on him. This is Chasing Chasing Amy.
This film doesn’t work if Smith isn’t part of it, if Smith doesn’t have the opportunity to sit down and discuss his standout film. There was a moment at the start of the film when I believed that only archived footage of Smith would make its way into the film–but when he steps into the frame for the first time, everything about the film changes. Smith is what initially gets the ball rolling in Chasing Chasing Amy, and his presence is ultimately so important to the film as a whole.
Sav (for obvious and not so obvious reasons) is so integral to the success of Chasing Chasing Amy. One might initially be able to chalk this documentary up to the fact that Sav has an obsession–but that changes so drastically the more you get to know Sav. Just the way he acts when he walks into iconic locations says everything that you need to know about him. I looked at Chasing Chasing Amy as this larger-than-life production as a result of all the big names that played a role in it–but Sav keeps it grounded. It’s grounded in a way that doesn’t strip it of its magnificence, but rather allows it to remain emotionally accessible to all.
Chasing Chasing Amy is incredibly meta, splendidly self-aware. It knows exactly what it wants to be, but even better it’s so aware of what it doesn’t want to be. Sav knows that he doesn’t want to force an agenda on his audience, and that the point of Chasing Chasing Amy was not to make viewers think a certain way, but rather to understand.
Sort of in the same vein of the film being so meta–there are times when it addresses the things that it manages to do so well (but in a subtle fashion). As interviewees sit there, waiting for the questions to roll in, Sav does such a beautiful job of humanizing them first, and much like the rest of the film, grounding them in a way that makes them far more accessible to viewers. This is very much a reflection of Sav’s understanding of filmmaking in more than one way. He understands how to reach an audience and how to create a film in general–however, his understanding of cinematography propels Chasing Chasing Amy forward in so many ways. Sav captures genuine emotion in the way that he records his interviewees, in the way that he sets them up, and in the way that he converses with them. Throughout the course of Chasing Chasing Amy, Sav finds new ways to intrigue viewers, and he never fails along the way.
I honestly had no idea what to expect when going into Chasing Chasing Amy. I went it blind, not sure if I was getting a documentary by Smith himself recounting his journey through creating the film, or if I was going to get something else entirely–but I never could have expected the film that Sav created. What he brings to life and the amount of purpose that he brings to Chasing Amy and what Smith and Joey Lauren Adams were able to develop in the mid-1990’s is just incredible. The film is stunning aesthetically, emotionally, and technically–and I don’t think that Chasing Chasing Amy could have been any better.
Directed by Sav Rodgers.
Starring Alexa Kagan, Shana Lory, Christopher Racster, Kevin Willmott, Jason Lee, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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