by Scott Barwick

If there’s one word to describe Kevin Smith’s filmmaking style, he’ll readily admit it’s “poor.” “I have zero visual talent,” states the 27-year-old writer-director of Chasing Amy, “but I have a good ear fordialogue.”

If you caught Smith’s debut, Clerks, this last fact is obvious. “I just filled [it] with the stuff you sit around and jaw with your friends about,” he says, noting that he learned to follow that old axiom: write what you know. ” I put things up there I identify with. By virtue others identify with it as well.”

Barring a twist or two, Chasing Amy is another good example. “A guy who can’t get over his girlfriend’s past hits very close to home. It’s a snapshot of my relationship with [star] Joey [Lauren Adams], except Joey wasn’t gay, and I [didn’t fall] in love with a lesbian.”