Slacker
1991 Directed by Richard Linklater
Synopsis
Presents a day in the life in Austin, Texas among its social outcasts and misfits, predominantly the twenty-something set, using a series of linear vignettes. These characters, who in some manner just don't fit into the establishment norms, move seamlessly from one scene to the next, randomly coming and going into one another's lives.
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A bunch of pretentious, unlikable dicknozzles wander around Austin for 90 minutes talking about stupid stuff.
And I loved it.
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When watching Slacker, I couldn't help but think of Kevin Smith's Clerks, in the way it's structured, and the general feel of the movie. Upon finishing Slacker, I looked it up, thinking the resemblance was too incredible if the two weren't in some way linked to one another. What I found out, was that Smith had indeed been inspired by Linklater, and quite possibly, if it weren't for Slacker, we wouldn't have seen Clerks appear three years later - and what a pity that would've been.
The fantastic quality that Slacker possesses, and that Smith brought with him in the making of Clerks, is the ability to make the viewer relate humongously to the characters, conversations and situations presented in…
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"Sorry I'm late." "It's okay. Time doesn't exist."
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I love Dazed and Confused, and after finally checking out Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, I decided to give Linklater's Slacker a shot. I was pretty optimistic, as I heard about influential it was, being almost the sole inspiration of Kevin Smith's Clerks.
As an observation of mostly twenty-something aimless, apathetic people with too much time on their hands, Slacker is a competent and easy-to-watch comedy. With no main character, the movie drifts from one random to another, sticking around for a couple of minutes of their everyday life, no matter how strange it might be. It totally does away with usual narrative structure, and is completely plotless. There's some good potential in an idea like that.
The movie isn't…
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I liked this for the most part, though the last half hour/forty five minutes is a little tiresome. I really hated when the camera switches to the handheld, shot by character moment at the concert scene, and I despised when this happens again to end the film. Best scene in the film is by far the TV set room scene.
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If I were still living in my teenaged years and had been exposed only to mainstream cinema, this movie might have rocked my shit. Since I am not and have not, it did not.
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Love Linklater, especially Before Sunrise/Sunset (not seen Before Midnight) and Waking Life. Love this movie too.
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I'm surprised at how well the story flows from one unknown character to the next as they go about their day-to-day lives trying to kill time.
Unfortunately, I lost interest about 15 minutes in. What're you gonna do.
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Intriguing Linklater talkfest.
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To paraphrase THE BIG LEBOWSKI, "Sometimes there's a movie, and I'm talking about SLACKER here, and well, it's the movie for its time and place".
I can imagine a time where this film would have spoken very deeply to a group of people, and I think it works well as a time capsule of a place. But I didn't enjoy this semi-recent history lesson.
The movie floats through Austin, Texas in the early 90's throughout a day or so. The camera moves from one conversation or "scene" to another by simply changing location and focus. I would argue that nothing in this film relates to anything else. You could say that Altman did this as well, but the difference for…
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Watching this again after so many years, I just have to say: Very interesting how this really is an early template/road map for all the themes Linklater will eventually work on his subsequent films.
It is a great movie on it's own right, but I find this quality fascinating on a whole different level...
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Had I seen this in my youth it would probably have been one of my favorite movies. As it is, it's a really interesting trendsetter and I wish it had been more easily available to me back then.
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An interesting look into the mind of a burgeoning filmmaker. Richard Linklater is one of the Great Texas Filmmakers and this is something of an unfiltered look into how he wanted to approach storytelling and filmmaking.
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If there was ever a movie from the last 25 years that deserved to be on the Library of Congress' National Film Registry it's this one. A snapshot of a time and place and collective conscience. Glad to see it was inducted in 2012.
Linklater. So awesome at showing me something different
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I saw this movie in like 8th or 9th grade and my brain exploded as I realized that movies could be anything you wanted them to be.
Haven't seen this in forever and was sort of afraid about how it would hold up, considering I've seen Waking Life a couple of times between seeing this and I'm not so into that movie.
Slacker has some of my main problem with Waking Life: too many monologues. For a movie striving for reality, it ignores the fact that people tend not to go on long monologues while their friends just stand there. It's more forgiveable here, as at least each monologue is different and not just the same stuff about "maybe dreams…