Kwik Stop

I saw this film at the 2001 LA film festival. Loved it. Direction is flawless, performances outstanding, cinematography excellent. Could be cut down by a few minutes, but otherwise, a brilliant film.

Looking forward to more output by all involved.

I just saw this film at the St. Louis Int'l Film Festival, and it may be my favorite film of the year. Kwik Stop has some of the smartest dialogue I've ever heard, in the service of an unusually honest love-on-the-run story. The perfomances are outstanding too. This is a major, major find.

At first glance, this film looks and feels like your typical low-budget, independent comedy-drama. It has the same kinds of characters, the same production quality, bad lighting, and amateur acting. But at some point it starts to feel like real life in a way that we're not used to seeing in this kind of movie. We may resist it at first, being unprepared for it, but can only hold out for so long. And in that way, it stands out from all the others.

At times—especially toward the beginning—Kwik Stop feels a bit like Kevin Smith's Clerks. It has the same kind of dialogue and the same independent charm. But while Kevin Smith went on after Clerks to become a hugely successful director of big-budget films, Kwik Stop conquers the independent realm in a way that Kevin Smith could never do, albeit in a purely artistic aspect. Unfortunately, I get the feeling that it was never quite so successful on a monetary level, and director Michael Gilio never went on to make another film.

Kwik Stop feels like someone watched Clerks and said, "People actually like this movie? I can make a better film with the same amount of money." It has the same charming quality and witty dialogue from Clerks and, similarly, it makes use of the same kinds of cheap, available locations. But it also has a great, unpredictable and completely believable story that is different from anything we're used to seeing. It's as if the filmmakers realized that what they would lose out on due to the low budget they could make up for through excellent storytelling. They invested in that and it paid off. Unlike other independent films, Kwik Stop doesn't waste too much time on silly comedy or sappy romance. It ignores those tired ideas, proving that the filmmakers were confident enough in their own ideas to take a chance on them. It feels like real life in such a way that I'm unable to think of any film worthy of comparison. And while there are comedy and romance throughout the film, is still always feels totally real. It feels real even despite the bad acting, because the events and the things happening to the characters feel so genuine and unrehearsed.

The film's main weakness is the acting, which is to be expected in such a low budget movie. The acting isn't exactly terrible. It's actually pretty good at times, but pretty bad at others. Most notably, the leading man played by director Michael Gilio delivers the majority of his lines pretty badly. He feels miscast. He's trying to play a part that his face and his voice and his overall demeanor can't quite pull off. It's a bit ironic, as there's a scene in this film in which his character watches a movie and then talks about how one of the leads in that film was miscast.

The only other drawback I found in this film was its length. At almost two hours, it felt a bit long for the story it was telling. One thing I like about most of these independent films is that they tend to wrap things up pretty quickly and rarely drag on past the hour-and-a-half mark.

Overall, I enjoyed Kwik Stop quite a bit. It's not the best film I've seen lately, but it's certainly the best of its kind. It tells a story that's new and different than what we're used to, and it pulls off what it does better than any other low budget film.

The usual summer line-up isn't complete without the mandatory "Boy Meets Girl" comedy. These films are not to be taken seriously for the intended reason that they are a mere subterfuge for other activities within the theater.

This film begins with some of the light hearted comedic sense of the "BMG" films but with fluidity that captures the viewer into the fantasy. Fantasies never last long and fluidity turns to turbulence and a sense of chaos. Soon enough, the viewer is awoken from paradise and thrown into what could be described as a David Lynch type directive with the unknown striking at any moment as if one is driven down a road in complete darkness, with twists and turns imminent.

This film is not sugar coated and you will not be spoon fed. It is not meant to be "Chicken Soup for the Soul", however, may leave you searching for what comfort remains.

I really liked this movie. Seemed like a regular indie movie about self-centered young adults, but really became something else. The movie quickly runs away with itself. I just read the Ebert review. He said Kwikstop "follows its characters where they insist on going". I agree with him that this is what makes the movie surprising and fun.

It is curious too how the characters "grow up" during the movie. In a way the film-making and acting also mature as the film continues. It goes from quick and self-conscious in the acting and camera-work to long static jim-jarmusch (stranger than paradise) like shots and virtuoso performances. It is really strange. By the end you feel like you are in a different film altogether. I had that feeling of inevitability watching the characters struggle that all good fiction gives me.

Also there is a monologue in this by the character Emil (Rich Komenich) that I have just watched a hundred times. Totally gives me chills every time. Just brilliant.

I would totally see more movies by these people.