RICHARD LINKLATER

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBB. 

USA, 1991.  Detour Filmproduction.  Screenplay by Richard Linklater.  Cinematography by Lee Daniel.  Produced by Richard Linklater.  Production Design by Deborah Pastor.  Film Editing by Scott Rhodes.

A perfectly executed jazz riff of a movie, though its style is not accompanied by substance and it won’t work for all viewers.  We watch a day in the life of a number of colourful characters in Austin, Texas, with Richard Linklater’s smooth camerawork easily guiding us through interactions that feel as if he is capturing spontaneous moments.  The unique personalities we meet, among my favourites being the girl claiming to carry with her a sample from Madonna’s pap smear, are the kind we generally see as living on the fringes of society.  How you feel about an entire movie mostly made up of people you ignore on the subway will determine how much you enjoy this film, but there’s no denying that the technical expertise with which it is pulled off (including having very few, mostly invisible cuts in it) deservedly launched Linklater’s charismatic career.

The Criterion Collection:  #247