Slacker | | Cast : | Richard Linklater | | Director : | Richard Linklater | | Studio : | Criterion Collection | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | July 05, 1991 | | DVD Released Date : | September 14, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 01, 2005 | | Summary | Forget your Kevin Smith movies... | Content
 | Slacker is the ultimate statement of what it was to be a twenty something in the early nineties. Linklater went on to make more great movies (Waking Life, Dazed and Confused), but it all started here. And what a start. Slacker is loose and funny, full of a dead-end redemptive sort of hope. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 21, 2005 | | Summary | Taking us through Austin streets | Content
| A film that popularized the term "slacker," Richard Linklater's exploration of a subculture of rudderless postgraduates is the quintessential independent film of the 1990s. Over the course of 24 hours, Linklater ("Dazed and Confused," "Before Sunrise," "Waking Life") takes us through Austin, Texas, streets, bars, and coffeehouses, where he introduces us to over a hundred engaging slackers in a sequence of linear vignettes. "I may live badly," proclaims one slacker, but at least I don't have to work to do it. "Withdrawing in disgust," observes another, "is not the same thing as apathy." And when a would-be robber encounters his next victim-an aging anarchist-he is told, "Go ahead, steal my stuff, yeah"; fight the power and come to next meeting!
In making "Slacker," Linklater drew on his keen observations of the slacker subculture and on his notes from overheard conversations; the movie's verisimilitude, achieved on a $23,000 budget, owes much to Linklater casting "Slacker" with his local friends and select verbose oddball Austin residents.
|
| Rating | | | Date | May 12, 2005 | | Summary | monotony | Content
| I haven't seen the Criterion disc yet but flashy packaging and special features aren't going to make me like this film.
The movie wasn't terrible, just very dull and monotonous. When I first heard about this movie I really liked the concept and thought it would be interesting. To me it seems like one of those ideas that, in fact, is interesting on paper but on paper alone. There are just some ideas that sound innovative and inspirational when conceived but when they actually manifest, we are left feeling under whelmed by the end product. It wasn't a lack of technical skill that made it boring it is just boring idea when executed. The ennui moves from scene to scene and after watching for an hour or so I started to get restless. This doesn't come from a short attention span or a lack of focus on my part -as I can spend entire days reading or watch five hour movies in one sitting- rather, it comes from a lack of substance and the mostly drab dialogue found in almost every scene.
There are some gems to be found here and there in this otherwise dull movie. I really liked the whole Madonna pap smear scene and there is some witty dialogue here and there. I am giving the movie two stars out of five (I might have bumped it up to 2 1/2 if that were possible) because I do like the idea and some of the dialogue but I think that this may have worked better as a shorter movie or in some other medium that isn't film. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 11, 2005 | | Summary | The Best DVD of 2004 | Content
| Criterion's release of Richard Linklater's SLACKER is one of their very best collections, and the best DVD release of 2004.
The film, one of the most important in modern independent cinema, follows a group of people around Austin Texas for a day. Going from one person to the next. There is no continual storyline, just the interaction with a lot of fascinating characters. It is one of my favorite films.
The DVD of the film alone would be excellent, but there is MUCH more.
You get two commentaries for SLACKER. A reunion film on the film's anniversary (I only wish this was longer). Several other short films and deleted scenes.
But, one of the best things about the set is the second DVD, featuring Linklater's first film IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN TO PLOW BY READING BOOKS. This film, made in Super 8 before SLACKER, is very similar in that it follows one character (Linklater). Not a lot happens storywise, but I found it to be another excellent film.
If that sounds like a lot, wait, there's more. The DVD set also comes with a small paperback book on the film and stories behind the making.
These films will not be for everyone. But, if you are looking for something different, want to see what inspired the independent cinema of the 90's, this is a must buy.
|
| Rating | | | Date | March 09, 2005 | | Summary | It's a personal thing | Content
| I don't think I could recommend this movie to a stranger, unless they lived in Austin in the late 80's and/or early 90's, when $250 got you a decent studio apartment, $3.29 got you a sixer of Shiner Bock beer, and $5 or less got you into pretty much any live music joint in town. Although I can't claim close friendship with anyone that appeared in the movie, I can still sit down with it and say "There's the guy that worked across the hall from me; there's my friend's next door neighbor; there's the singer from Retarted Elf; there's WAMMO!!" Between the scenester sightings and flashes of some lost Austin landmarks (Les Amis, etc), this flick is a total nostalgia trip for me.
Now, if you like quirky characters and dialogue enough to do without a plot, or you're a film student or movie geek that wants a lesson in how the modern indie movie business got kick-started, pick this up.
The Criterion package is, of course, superb, with 80 zillion extras, most of which I haven't even watched yet. |
|
