SlackerWhether you succeed or fail at something isn't as important as the act of trying in the first place, instead of sitting on the sidelines just talking about life instead of living it. Slacker is an independent film about a veritable bevy of people populating Austin, Texas, sharing in common a penchant for lengthy discourse and a disdain for meaningful activity. Written and directed by Richard Linklater--who also plays the first of these loquacious characters--Slacker set the tone for this filmmaker's career for decades to come, while serving as a slice of life for the time and place in which it was made.
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Slacker represents a milestone in independent filmmaking, evidenced by how many other filmmakers have been inspired by it. For example, Kevin Smith (of Clerks fame) credits this movie for showing him that he could be a filmmaker on his own and tell a compelling story about his own world, much like Linklater has. A Texas native, Linklater bucks the trend of following a named protagonist in favor of a grab bag of "bohemian" misfits and outliers. As it happens, none of his characters are given names, so each scene feels as though the audience has already walked in on one giant party, after all of the introductions have been dispensed with. This means that Slacker cuts right to what is often most engaging about Linklater's work: a penchant for compelling and contemplative dialogue balanced with a heavy dose of irony. As mentioned, Linklater plays the first character, who elaborates at length to his taxi driver about a dream he had, trying to find some deeper meaning about reality in it. (Linklater rarely appears in his own work, and as is the case with so many brilliant directors--from Tarantino to Polanski--it's evidence that he best suited to be behind the camera.) The film transitions into its next mini-episode via a tragedy--a hit-and-run discovered after the fact--and we never see Linklater again. These transitions are akin to those seemingly chaotic complexities in jazz--what seems random is, upon closer inspection, very deliberate, both in tone and (here) in staging. In fact, each little nugget of life in Austin is here and gone so fast that it never outstays its welcome. In this, it roasts some narrative sacred cows, like how the names of these characters simply don't matter. This is because we can instantaneously identify some or more of these characters from people we already know in our own lives, so we fill in the blanks for ourselves. This makes the audience more invested, because Linklater's bargain bin grab bag of everyday locals may seem crazy and outlandish at times, but isn't that far from our own reality and those who occupy our own inner circles.
I've seen several of Linklater's films, including the magnificent Before trilogy and Boyhood, to Dazed and Confused and Bernie. But it wasn't until recently that I saw Slacker. What I find that makes it so compelling isn't just the aforementioned "channel surfing" approach to character development, but in how strongly it foreshadows his now decades long career. Linklater is a rare filmmaker that manages to combine clever filmmaking with commercially engaging works, all while maintaining his signature style and thematic interests. Linklater clearly loves to understand people, and through his films invite his audience to share in that passion. Superficially, Slacker is a comedy, poking fun at a batch of people who are more comfortable prognosticating than doing anything meaningful. The audience is keenly aware of this, and yet will still find deeper entertainment in the lengthy conversations about such trivial subject matter as Scooby-Doo or an obsessive interest in the JFK assassination. What defines Linklater's characters is the earnestness with which they embrace their own little totems of identity. One character is so filled with anger at his girlfriend cheating on him that he brings his friends on a ritual to throw a typewriter into a lake. Another--played by Linklater collaborator, Kim Krizan--talks about her existential doubts at a late-night diner with a couple of her girlfriends...all before a skeezy guy with a van convinces one of them to come see his roommate's band. Though some of Linklater's later works pursue the idea of "growing old" with his characters on a literal level, Slacker creates an environment that is just like that delightfully worn comfy recliner--y'know, the one with the stuffing falling out of the side and the chili stain on the armrest? It is a little rough around the edges--in an iconic scene about a totally suspicious woman trying to hock a "Madonna pap smear", even the boom mike makes a cameo. Nevertheless, it is so familiar and recognizable that it entertains almost exclusively on this basis. Yet Slacker doesn't rest on its laurels of familiarity and nostalgia; it encourages us to consider even the silliest of ideas with all seriousness, from the legitimacy of an anarchist assassinating McKinley to whether life filtered through television is more real than reality. Linklater's earlier works are unfairly lumped into a category too conveniently considered to be "stoner" flicks. But isn't it funny how that in the midst of a haze that alters your perception that you start to see the world a little differently, and subsequently start asking deeper questions about the nature of your reality? Starting with Slacker, Linklater indirectly puts it to us that we don't really need the drugs at all to face that existential angst we all feel; all we have to do is look inward...even if all you do afterwards is shrug and get the munchies.
Recommended for: Fans of a formative film for one of the most fascinating filmmakers working today. Slacker asks questions about life but doesn't always answer them, because it rightly observes in its own way that no one has these answers, and that life is about living and doing as much as it is about contemplation. But it's important not to confuse the two.
I've seen several of Linklater's films, including the magnificent Before trilogy and Boyhood, to Dazed and Confused and Bernie. But it wasn't until recently that I saw Slacker. What I find that makes it so compelling isn't just the aforementioned "channel surfing" approach to character development, but in how strongly it foreshadows his now decades long career. Linklater is a rare filmmaker that manages to combine clever filmmaking with commercially engaging works, all while maintaining his signature style and thematic interests. Linklater clearly loves to understand people, and through his films invite his audience to share in that passion. Superficially, Slacker is a comedy, poking fun at a batch of people who are more comfortable prognosticating than doing anything meaningful. The audience is keenly aware of this, and yet will still find deeper entertainment in the lengthy conversations about such trivial subject matter as Scooby-Doo or an obsessive interest in the JFK assassination. What defines Linklater's characters is the earnestness with which they embrace their own little totems of identity. One character is so filled with anger at his girlfriend cheating on him that he brings his friends on a ritual to throw a typewriter into a lake. Another--played by Linklater collaborator, Kim Krizan--talks about her existential doubts at a late-night diner with a couple of her girlfriends...all before a skeezy guy with a van convinces one of them to come see his roommate's band. Though some of Linklater's later works pursue the idea of "growing old" with his characters on a literal level, Slacker creates an environment that is just like that delightfully worn comfy recliner--y'know, the one with the stuffing falling out of the side and the chili stain on the armrest? It is a little rough around the edges--in an iconic scene about a totally suspicious woman trying to hock a "Madonna pap smear", even the boom mike makes a cameo. Nevertheless, it is so familiar and recognizable that it entertains almost exclusively on this basis. Yet Slacker doesn't rest on its laurels of familiarity and nostalgia; it encourages us to consider even the silliest of ideas with all seriousness, from the legitimacy of an anarchist assassinating McKinley to whether life filtered through television is more real than reality. Linklater's earlier works are unfairly lumped into a category too conveniently considered to be "stoner" flicks. But isn't it funny how that in the midst of a haze that alters your perception that you start to see the world a little differently, and subsequently start asking deeper questions about the nature of your reality? Starting with Slacker, Linklater indirectly puts it to us that we don't really need the drugs at all to face that existential angst we all feel; all we have to do is look inward...even if all you do afterwards is shrug and get the munchies.
Recommended for: Fans of a formative film for one of the most fascinating filmmakers working today. Slacker asks questions about life but doesn't always answer them, because it rightly observes in its own way that no one has these answers, and that life is about living and doing as much as it is about contemplation. But it's important not to confuse the two.