Chasing Amy

Chasing Amy (1997) is about two comic book creators. Holden meets Alyssa at a convention and falls for her. Then he learns she is a lesbian. The film does not end there; a relationship begins, and the real problem turns out not to be her sexuality but his inability to cope with her past. It is Kevin Smith's third film. His second, Mallrats, had been made with studio money and failed; he made this one back on a small budget of 250,000 dollars. Its starting point is personal. Smith said he drew on his relationship with Joey Lauren Adams, who had been in Mallrats, and wrote the part of Alyssa for her. Ben Affleck plays Holden. It screened at Sundance and put Smith's career back together; the screenplay won at the Independent Spirit Awards. The argument around it has shifted over the years. On release it was regarded as a rare American film that talked frankly about sex. It was later criticised on the grounds of its depiction of LGBT lives, particularly how a lesbian woman entering a relationship with a man is framed and presented as a discovery. Smith has said since that he would write parts of it differently now. It runs 114 minutes. Good for: nineties independent film, films that talk about relationships, and Kevin Smith's most mature work. Less good for: Holden's jealousy takes up most of the film and is hard to sit through. Its view of sexual orientation has dated. The proposition scene late on is indefensible to many viewers.