Included in Lists:
Great Movies
Criterion Collection - #75
Strong Performances - Joey Lauren Adams
Ladies and Gentlemen: The Essentials -#78

In the core of Kevin Smith’s third film, Chasing Amy, is the emotional truth behind its characters and their connections, allowing them to build upon themes that would ultimately define the film’s journey, one that manages to both convey the internal rumblings of Smith himself and its ability to leave a bridging gap for our own emotions, as the audience, to be transferred to the archetypes of these characters. Slowly slipping ourselves within their shoes, realising our own strengths, vulnerabilities, and desires.

I certainly saw a resemblance of myself in Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck), as he builds a relationship with the assertive and explorative Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams), not in the step by step mirroring of my own personal life, but rather in the yearning of being with that particular human being, or the confronting fright against another’s experience, the inability to completely empathise with their own condition, to the point where one endures through a state of self-destruction and find oneself in a painful pit of loneliness and fragility. It is because of this, that Chasing Amy has earned itself a special place in my heart.

The following of Holden’s experience through this relationship, exploring the confronting and wonderful circumstance that he finds himself in, has allowed Smith to explore topics of love, relationships, friendships, and self-actualisation, all attended through the discussions that these characters share, to coincide with their progression of uncovering and realising one another, to subtly speak of something significant and thoughtful without detaching itself from its characters.

The concept of having Alyssa as a sexually experimental character and the eventual connection that she establishes with Holden is already a firm enough foundation of its own, and easily the film could have explored dual sides to earn a broader spectrum of perspective. But given the fact that Smith has seemingly translated pieces of his own experiences into the film, has allowed it to retain a personal touch, keeping its sole perspective through Holden’s eyes, and thus approach Alyssa with a deep sense of complexity that is radiant and heartbreaking, as we slowly uncover more of who she truly is, and realising the significance of her presence in Holden’s life. I found myself unhesitatingly broken in her most expressive and confronting of scenes, where pages of her own past becomes the source of her own agony, notably in how it barricades instances in her relationship with him. It is through Smith’s exploration of this particular character that he begins to convey the potential error of one’s ways, the limitations that we face, and that love cannot be viewed upon in such simplistic terms, it should be within the terms that suit us at that particular moment as we cannot perceive our eventual becomings and endure through life with such stability and complete assuredness.

Much like in the vein of Her (Spike Jonze) and Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola), two personal films of mine, Chasing Amy demonstrates the relationships that pass through our lives, however brief or minute they may seem from an objective measurement, its significance to us is deeply embedded, at times to the point where we cannot even traced back to its point of catalyst. Holden and Alyssa’s relationship would hold a special place in their hearts, despite the hurt, despite the ultimately chosen pathway of their lives, it is certain that they have realised, constructed, and evolved a portion of themselves that have shaped the individuals that they have become by the end of the film. It would be a relationship that would be reflected upon once in a while, but it would be one that would never be forgotten, much like the personal friendships of my past and the potential relationships to be made in my future, they were and would be endured with joys and sadness, but in the end, they would be connections that would always be held dearly.

Thank you, Arielrocks5, for awakening my motivation to return to this film