Can a work of art be both alarmingly problematic and somehow ahead of its time? Do antiquated depictions of queer life have value if they inspire artists to create? In enlightening and surprising ways, CHASING CHASING AMY offers a vital survey of a divisive motion picture: Kevin Smith’s 1997 boy-meets-lesbian romcom CHASING AMY.
Filmmaker Sav Rodgers charts the complicated legacy of the first queer film he ever saw and how it saved his life. Setting out to uncover why the film that introduced him to queer identities onscreen as an impressionable 12 year old in Kansas still elicits such polarizing reactions, Rodgers mixes interviews with the folks responsible for CHASING AMY alongside pop culture pundits, queer media critics, and LGBTQ+ filmmakers — including Smith, leading lady Joey Lauren Adams, queer cinema icon Guinevere Turner, and director Andrew Ahn (FIRE ISLAND). A thoughtful, balanced investigation into our troubled past in media representation, CHASING CHASING AMY reveals as much about the artist as it does its subject — especially as Rodgers’ own self-actualization as a trans man becomes woven into the journey.
Joe Bowman
