Mae Day: The Crumbling of a Documentary

I heard about this short film years ago, and finally saw it recently. It apparently began as a legit documentary about a transsexual named Emelda Mae titled "Mae I", but after production fell through before completion writer/directors Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier made it into a mockumentary about their failure to complete the documentary. Confused? Smith and Mosier are always either in shadow, with their backs to the camera, or otherwise with their faces always out of frame. They, along with others involved in the failed "Mae I" project, offer insights into said failure. The film had a decent soundtrack, and their were a few funny moments.

Yeah, it's an amateurish student effort, but from what I got from the film- as presented on the Clerks DVD set- Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier pretty much acknowledge this in their intro. It's kind of amusing, actually, though not in the very funny, outrageous aspects that would come out in Smith's other works. It's a goofy, cover-your-ass effort where Smith and Mosier, without access to a night-club singing transvestite (I think she sang nightclubs anyway), decide to make a documentary about the failure to make a documentary on her. It doesn't quite reach the ranks of a mockumentary in the Christopher Guest style, though it basically is a mockery of 'in-depth exposes', practically in a TV-fashion. One of the funnier things is seeing, from the start, Mosier and Smith in complete silhouette, and the title card of 'Directors' also spelled with the phonetic spelling attached. The documentary then proceeds as the actual members of the crew spout off on the un-professionalism of the directors on the project (one of the funnier bits being that aforementioned '6 P's' quote).

Some of the exchanges of the two 'disgraced' filmmakers end up getting some raffish chuckles, and the tongue-in-cheek method of not showing them from chest up is not a bad idea. But it's so short that it doesn't really give off that much of their side's skills, except to show that they know how to edit in a mock-style and get some genuine reactions out of their crew. So it's worth the viewing if you've never seen it (actually, no one has been able to outside of perhaps the Vancouver film class Smith and Mosier were in- likely with the best premise of anyone) from the DVD, if nothing else as a curio. It's one of those trifles I wish could've been better, but it doesn't matter too much as it only shows so much anyway as to the great paths that were to come for the director/producer team.

This short documentary was made by the now successful producing/directing team of Scott Mosier and Kevin Smith while attending film school in Canada (soon after making Mae Day, Smith would leave film school and begin writing what was to become his first feature "Clerks").

The doc started as a genuine effort by Smith and Mosier to profile a local transsexual. However, he (or she) quit, and the filmmakers, making the best of the situation, chose to document their failed student film and explore "what went wrong." So Mae Day turns into a sort of 5 minute, Canadian version of "Lost in La Mancha."

The film is fairly dull, and Smith makes here an early attempt at the signature self deprecating humor that would become his trademark in forthwith films, but isn't quite genuine in this. However, I'm fairly certain that this was nothing more than homework for the two students and was never really meant to be seen by anyone other than their classmates and teachers. Mae Day is practice, furthermore Smith couldn't have been into it that much in the first place since he left school a week after making it. In fact, not liking Mae Day is probably a good thing because Kevin Smith made it in film school, which he has, on more than one occasion, denounced. We've all handed in reports to the history teacher that we wouldn't want posted on the school bulletin board for all to see. Besides, this is the first film Kevin Smith ever ever EVER made in his life, and by that respect its not quite as bad.

I really do hate short films. And this one's no better than the millions of other boring student films sitting under some fat kid's bed.

I didn't find this funny at all, just boring. And when I say boring, I mean REALLY boring. It goes for 10 minutes, and I was already tempted to turn it off after the first minute.

Okay, so I know it's just a student film, and it's Kevin Smith's first piece of work, but that doesn't make it any better.

I suppose you should only bother watching this if you're a die-hard Kevin Smith fan. But I assure you, you won't bother watching it again!

A good thing about this whole thing is that Kevin Smith wasn't trying to be someone he's not with this. He wasn't trying to make a masterpiece. (please God tell me he didn't try!) The film is a mockumentary about making a documentary. How did he come up with that? Anyway the film (if you can call it that) was alright and I did enjoy the soundtrack and especially the whole thing about Kevin Smith and that other guy (who, even though we never saw his face, had the most uncanny resemblance to Ben Affleck) never showing their faces and always being out of frame and the whole them being in the shadow talking to the camera thing. If you're watching this to see Kevin Smith humor then you'll be a bit disappointed. There was some of it in the ending though and that was a good thing I guess.

For very hardcore Kevin Smith fans only!