Clerk

Malcolm Ingram's 2021 documentary traces Kevin Smith's career from his childhood in New Jersey to the present. In 1994 Smith made an unexpected entrance into American independent cinema with Clerks, shot inside the shop where he worked and financed on credit cards. The most interesting sections cover that first period. Being discovered at Sundance, the search for a distributor and the failure of the films that followed to meet commercial expectations are all covered in detail. Smith's move from cinema into podcasts and live shows is presented as necessity rather than career design. Ingram is a long-standing friend of Smith's, and that closeness is the documentary's limit. Harsh assessments of how the films were received are softened. Even so, Smith's openness about his own failures rescues it. Who it's for: those who follow nineties American independent cinema and Kevin Smith. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a critical portrait; the documentary is built openly on admiration.