Dazed and Confused

This is one movie which captures the euphoria, timelessness and invincibility of youth that we all go through, during our college days. And it does so, in a very real and simple way. We have lots of driving around aimlessly, lots of booze, seniors putting juniors in place, skirmishes with the law and problems with authority. Welcome to the last day of School. Welcome to 1976. Can one ask for more?

The movie has a very relaxed, easy- going air to it. There isn't a plot, as such. We drive around with different groups, each having their own unique characters and conversations. Ron Slater is one of the most memorable. Eternally stoned, very interesting and full of awesome conspiracy theories, flashes of 'Slacker' flit by :) Not a moment seems boring, as we switch from group to group ,adventure to adventure and conversation to conversation.

There are some very thought- provoking discussions here. They may look superficial and meaningless at first. But attentive or subsequent viewings will yield some true gems to the discerning eye. This is a movie with so many levels to it that I find it hard to describe :) We have so many memories fleeting by, so many tributes, and so many dialogues which have attained cult status.

The Kiss statues kick quite a bit of ass :)

Are you cool, man?
Like, how? :P

The word "man" is said 203 times in this movie. It's almost as if every sentence contains the word at least once :), except when the girls are speaking to each other.

A big chunk of the budget was spent in acquiring the rights for songs, and the effect is stellar, so dramatic! I can think of very few movies where soundtracks have been used to compliment the mood of the scene so well. Forrest Gump comes to mind. Anyone remotely interested in music from the 60's to the 90's cannot miss this movie at any cost!

Wooderson and co. at the emporium

There is a timeless sequence where Bob Dylan's "Hurricane" is played when the gang is hanging out and playing snooker. A great psychedelic effect is cast on us, and legend status is attained instantly. These few minutes are absolute bliss. If you haven't listened to the song or read what it is about, please do. Liquid gold in slow motion.

The range of characters and their casting is brilliant. You'll find more than a few familiar faces who went on to become very big names. Tag words = Friends, Interstellar.

Title credits goes to the mother ship :)

Alright, alright, alright!

*I do not own any of these images. All pictures courtesy their respective owners*

Slacker

Image courtesy wikipedia

Does a movie always have to be about 'something', 'someone', or about having a message? Do we always have to categorise movie's, music, books into  'genres'? What if we want a vignette of a time and place, by meeting myriad locals, getting a glimpse, and moving on without having to be judgemental about anyone? This is exactly what Richard Linklater does in 'Slacker', his 1991 movie which he wrote, directed and produced. His other movie's are 'Dazed and Confused' and 'School of Rock'.

Slacker defies conventional film making. There is no one 'storyline'. The glimpses of life of one or two people are presented as realistically as possible. Someone else comes into the frame, and we follow the routine. This continues till the end of the movie. The camera might well be me and you walking around randomly in town, with no particular destination in mind. The people are as real as they get. We meet the youth, mostly unemployed and with a lot of free time to spare - slackers.

There is a lot of food for thought. Linklater makes a cameo appearance when the movie begins, and tells us about how each and every choice which we did not make spawns its own reality, and speaks really profoundly and at length about this! Then we move on, presented with the quirks of a host of others. It is basically a slice of life from a town in Texas. There are conspiracy theories abound, there is lounging (a lot of it!), there are anarchists, assassination theories, there is the bizzare talk. Most of the talk is anti establishment, from the fringes of society, from people who may be neglected by authority and from people who have their own take on things. Some of the ideas make us think, as they might not be 'the norm' or 'acceptable'.

Linklater is a director from another mould. This is his third movie which I have watched and I am thoroughly thrilled at all the three!

*I do not own any of these images. All pictures courtesy their respective owners*