The Dirties

Odds are you haven't heard of this film, but you really should watch it! If you are fan of Kevin Smith and his podcasting association Smodco then you might have heard him talking about The Dirties, the first film he picked up with his new company 'The Kevin Smith Movie Club'. It is how I heard about the film and now after watching it I feel that I should let you guys know about it as well, not just because it's a small independent film made by students but also because it is awesome!

The Dirties is a found footage film about some friends making a film together that involves them taking down a gang of bullies in their school called The Dirties. One of the friends however takes the idea to far and starts to actually plan a real life shooting of their school bullies on camera.

The school shooter concept is something that is quite real and topical right now, but the film is very good at not hitting any nerves or being offencive at any point. It humanises the school shooter and creates a very interesting character piece. The style of the film is a 'found footage' film and although we have had a lot of these recently, this one again is original by making the camera one that the friends are using to make a film. The reason they have wireless mics on them most of the time is for the same reason. This choice makes the whole film a bit more believable and adds to some of the scenes that already feel scarily real. Not that this film is a horror, it's more of a comedy drama about people who love film. And you can really tell they love film, because there are a bunch of references to many different films and pop culture scattered throughout.

For me as a film student, watching this group of friends on screen make a film is familiar but also inspiring as some of the filmmakers themselves are students. This film just makes we want to go out and make more films! They are a great success story of independent cinema and prove that if you try hard enough you can make it. This really is such a great film but I'm making this less of a review and more of a 'please watch this', because small films like this need to be supported, so if you're not convinced by me yet check out the trailer here:

Or again if you're not convinced you can check out an interview with the director Matt Johnson and Kevin Smith here:

Surely you're convinced now right? Well you should be because I thought it was brilliant. I'm giving it a solid 4/5. Look out for The Dirties to feature on my top 10 list of year later this year! Go check it out on VOD services now!

Thanks for reading!