Dazed and Confused

Dir: Richard Linklater

1993

****

Richard Linklater's 1993 Dazed and Confused represented a new direction for the American high-school genre. John Hughes had reigned supreme during the 1980s with his unique and rather quirky style, everything else that decade either involved a nerds vs bullies story which always had the same conclusion, was a sci-fi comedy or was just a little bit too melodramatic. Much like everything that had come before really. Linklater's approach was a little more genuine. Like he said in 2012's Dazed and Confused reunion; "The drama is so low-key in Dazed and Confused. I don't remember teenage life being that dramatic. I remember just trying to go with the flow, socialize, fit in and be cool. The stakes were really low. To get Aerosmith tickets or not? That's a big thing. It was really rare when the star-crossed lovers from the opposite sides of the tracks got together and the girl got pregnant and then there's a car crash and somebody dies. That really didn't happen much. But riding around and trying to look for something to do with the music cranked up, now that happened a lot!". I think it is Linklater's irreverence towards the high-school formula that people love about the film, conversations aren't serious and don't last a very long time, you got in trouble but it was no big deal and often your parents would intervene in your enjoyment of life. Linklater captures that brief time in life where you're not quite an adult yet but you're certainly not a child anymore. When life got tough or didn't go your way you could just go back to your room, lay on the bed and listen to music. It's a universal thing, still happens today, I still do the same myself and that's why the film is so loved, everyone can relate to it on some level. The performances are also brilliant and the cast that included Matthew McConaughey, Jason London, Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Cole Hauser, Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg and Joey Lauren Adams went on to be big Hollywood stars. The film's legacy can be measured by certain details; it wasn't a box office smash but it grew into a huge cult favorite, many directors (including Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith - both clearly influenced by Linklater's early work) claimed it was one of their favorite films of all time and three of Linklater's former school-mates with the surnames Wooderson, Slater and Floyd tried to sue the director for deformation of character. For me, it was one of the few really interesting and individual films of the early 90s that was a real beacon in a sea of disappointment as far as mainstream cinema went at the time.