Brad Fraser

KEVIN SMITH
THE NATIONAL POST
BY BRAD FRASER

After viewing Kevin's Smith's hilarious and irreverent comedy DOGMA at Toronto's International Film Festival one begins to suspect that the real reason the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is so upset over the film is because someone other than Charlton Heston is playing God. In fact, it's winsome pop star Allanis Morrisette who depicts the feminine and out to lunch deity. Not only does the movie suggest God might be a woman but it also suggests that certain apostles, and even Jesus himself, were black. Needless to say there are a great many people who find such ideas shocking. Fortunately none of them seemed to be in attendance at the gala screening of the film which was greeted with laughter and applause.

Kevin Smith, like his movies-, which include CLERKS, MALLRATS and CHASING AMY-, is funny, human and surprisingly unaffected. There's no sense of the arrogant self-importance that has infected so many of his movie-making contemporaries despite the fact that Smith is one of the most commercially successful filmmakers of his generation. In his onstage introduction to the film Smith deadpanned that DOGMA, which was spurned by its original distributor, Disney, and picked up by upstart Canadian distributors Lions Gate Films, was "By Canadians, for Canadians and about Canadians". The stunned silence that greeted this announcement was shattered by Smith himself, who broke the crowd up by adding, "I'm just fucking with ya."

The truth of the matter is that Smith was not all that far off the mark with the joke. DOGMA, with its satirical edge, risky set pieces and the ability to poke fun at revered and uptight institutions, seems much more like the work of a Canadian artist than an American filmmaker. Smith acknowledges the truth of this statement with an enthusiastic nod and launches into a low-key expression of his affection for the true north.

Not only did Smith attend the Vancouver Film School for a time, but his business partner, co-producer and co-editor Scott Mosier also has dual Canadian/American citizenship. Kevin speaks highly of Canada, has friends in Oakville and frequently uses Toronto as a getaway. He's something of an honorary Canadian, even in the press. " I remember with CLERKS- when it opened in England- someone had written a letter to Time Out saying they were really upset because the film hadn't been acclaimed for the Canadian piece of work it is." He seems flattered with the comparison although he doesn't necessarily buy into the "All Canadians Are Nice" attitude that so many of our southern cousins insist on propagating. "Everyone's not much nicer up here. That's a misnomer. I've been in cabs and seen drivers get into it. People are just more courteous up here. I think it's because everything's so big. Canada has like ten percent of America's population. People aren't crammed in together like sardines."

Perhaps it's this sense of space that also helps many Canadians to be rather more tolerant on certain issues than Americans. Lions Gate Films has developed a reputation for handling quirky and difficult to place films like LOLITA and GODS AND MONSTERS. Despite the fact that DOGMA features an impressive cast of white hot actors including Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino and Chris Rock, Disney had no trouble passing on the film and the money it might make. Smith says, "They could've cared less. They said it's all about Catholics. Who's gonna go anyway?" To judge from the reaction of the premier audience, a great many people may go to this film- all of them under thirty. Smith is unapologetic about this. "That's who it's for. I'm not preaching to the choir. They're already at church. This movie's for the people who aren't going. People who don't think about their faith or spirituality at all because they think they're immortal. That's what everyone who's under thirty thinks. Religion doesn't have a place in their day to day life. They think life's gonna go on forever just like this." At twenty-nine, recently married and with a three month old daughter, Smith says he finds himself thinking about mortality and morality more and more all the time.

When he talks about his daughter, Harley Quinn- named after a character in the animated Batman Adventures- it's clear that Smith is thinking about the future as well. In addition to his work as a writer and director of feature films, Kevin also does a great deal of comic book related work, writing for both mainstay publishers Marvel and DC as well a publishing his own comics under the self-owned Oni Press imprint. Currently an animated television series adapted from CLERKS is in the works and should be seen shortly. Interestingly, Smith isn't burning with an idea for a new feature just yet. He's decided to devote some time to something both Disney and The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights would approve of. His family.