Cinema has always been a divisive and subjective artform, and the multitude of genre, arthouse, indie and couldn’t-make-it-fit-in-any-box-no-matter-how-hard-you-tried films that have emerged from its bosom over the last century and some change are as individual as the audiences that they’re made for. Oh sure, there are exceptions to the rule, namely Jaws*, which was responsible for creating the term ‘blockbuster’, and was, arguably, the patient zero for the crowd pleasing money making films that have assaulted theatres and multiplexes ever since have gone on to become the norm. 

But for the most part, film is still subject to a single indefatigable rule. You either like a movie, or you don’t, and the reasons why you’re either in the thumbs up camp or this movie should be burned to the ground and its ashes buried far from civilisation minority don’t really matter. All that really matters is that after a while, you know what you do and don’t like, and as such your celluloid preferences are pretty much set in stone from that point on.

Which, in an incredibly roundabout and obtuse way, brings me to Kevin Smith, and his latest offering The 4.30 Movie. Being a die hard, middle aged movie fanatic, my taste in film was forged a long time ago, and ever since I sat down to watch Clerks with zero expectation, and after the final credits rolled, left the cinema with my idea of what film could be forever altered, he’s been one of my top ten writers and directors. And The 4:30 Movie, a beautiful ode to the innocence of growing up in the eighties that takes place over the course of a single day, has reinforced my fandom and maybe even bumped Smith up a place or two. 

At its heart, it’s a relatively simplistic, and somewhat autobiographical, story of first love and friendship that plays out against a background of small town everyday life, as the hero of the hour Brian, finally sums up the courage to ask the girl of his dreams to go to the movies with him on the same day that he and his best friends are getting ready to indulge in a screen-hopping** cinematic marathon. So far so good, and straightforward and easy enough to follow, right? But it isn’t the plot that makes 4:30 a must see movie. No sir, it isn’t that. It isn’t that all. 

What makes The 4:30 Movie shine and a film that you’ll want to watch over and over again, is the patented Smith fairy dust that’s sprinkled over, and in, every single frame and the way that, ultimately, the way the film makes you feel as it bounces you up and down an emotional rollercoaster, tugs at your heart strings and makes you snort with genuine laugher and spit coffee*** all over your brand new D.R.I hooded sweatshirt, delivers an engaging and entertaining narrative that doesn’t miss a beat and serves up an ending that’ll make you smile from now until Christmas in less than ninety minutes. Beat that Francis Ford Coppola. What’s that you say? You can’t? Yeah, we know you can’t. Pussy.

I wish I could figure out exactly what Smith’s secret cinematic sauce was, and is, but it’s still a mystery to me three decades after I first became a fan of his. Maybe it’s the fact that his dialogue and characterisation is so real that you feel like you’ve known the players all your life and recognise yourself in them and both their struggles and joy, or that the central plot arc could have been dragged straight out of one of the long eighties Summers you lived through, or that he has a knack for casting actors (which might explain why so View Askew alumni are present and correct in The 4:30 Movie), or maybe it’s just the fact that he was born with a gift for storytelling on the big screen and making the sort of films that I fell in love with so long ago, and still adore to this day. Whatever his secret is, The 4:30 Movie is saturated in it, and as such, it has taken pride of place in my top five films of the year. If you don’t chop-chop to your nearest cinema to see it or buy it from your go-to streaming platform of choice as soon as you can, you’re a schmuck. And you don’t want to be a schmuck, do you? No, I didn’t think you did…  Tim Cundle 

*I’m not deriding Jaws, it’s my second favourite film ever, and being a lifelong four-colour and Sci-Fi maniac, I adore blockbusters, they’re my cinematic raison de vivre

**If you grew up in the eighties and spent way too much time in multiplexes, you’ll know what I mean. As far as the rest of you are concerned, ask your older siblings. Or your parents, 

***Going to have to get the damn thing dry-cleaned if those coffee stains don’t come out in the wash. Films like this are the reason I can’t have nice things. 

‘The 4:30 Movie’ will be available to rent and buy on all digital platforms from October 21st

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