Move to Austin, Where You Don't Need a Job to Survive!

21/300
Slacker
Dir. Richard Linklater

Having just moved to Austin, I felt I needed to add this movie to the list.  Sadly enough, it's almost funny how spot-on it is about this place.  Seems like I have overheard more heated political debates about "the establishment", and some days it amazes me how long I can go only seeing people in their 20s around.  For being a city of it's size, it does seem to be full of a lot of laid back, semi-estranged people with their own conspiracy theories and/or activism to share with anyone that they meet.  Don't get me wrong, I love this town, and I don't mean this in any bad light whatsoever.  But to live here, you need an open mind and a pretty good sense of humor.  I feel like Linklater definitely captured just that in his string of dialogue driven vignettes.

With a very little plot to follow throughout the film, you focus more on the characters that Linklater's almost A.D.D. camera will point at, then leave when something better comes along.  There are common themes throughout the film.  Most of the characters don't seem to have jobs, and if they do, they are not very serious with them.  One guy is a part time barista and another either works at a book store, or maybe just inhabits the place to read his JFK novels.  Again, though, they all seem to be in that transitional phase of their lives between college (if they went) and a career, but they all are fairly content in the awkward stage.  The only person that isn't really in that state is the older man that talks about blowing up the capital building with the guy he talked out of robbing him.

Something that I really did like about the movie were the visuals.  The girl trying to sell Madonna's pap smear, the guy in the room full of TVs with one strapped to his back, the boys holding the typewriter over the river performing some sort of ritual, and the hit-and-run guy staring out his window are moments that won't soon be forgotten.  I was a little surprised though, that I didn't recognize many locations while watching, but you can just tell, you're in Austin.

"This story was based on fact. Any similiarity with fictional events
or characters is entirely coincidental."


Run time 100 min + 2230 previously viewed = 2330 thus far