Slacker (1991)

Director:

Richard Linklater

Writer:

Richard Linklater (writer)

Release Date:

5 July 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Presents a day in the life in Austin, Texas among its social outcasts and misfits, predominantly the twenty-something set...

Plot Keywords:

Voyeur | Television | Anarchist | Taxi | Bus

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Richard Linklater	...	Should Have Stayed at Bus Station
Rudy Basquez	...	Taxi Driver
Jean Caffeine	...	Roadkill
Jan Hockey	...	Jogger
Stephan Hockey	...	Running Late
Mark James	...	Hit-and-run Son
Samuel Dietert	...	Grocery Grabber of Death's Bounty
Bob Boyd	...	Officer Bozzio
Terrence Kirk	...	Officer Love
Keith McCormack	...	Street Musician
Jennifer Schaudies	...	Walking to Coffee Shop
Dan Kratochvil	...	Espresso Czar / Masonic Malcontent
Maris Strautmanis	...	Giant Cappuccino
Brecht Andersch	...	Dostoyevsky Wannabe
Tommy Pallotta	...	Looking for Missing Friend (as Tom Pallotta)

Runtime:

97 min | 100 min (DVD)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:G (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

Detour Filmproduction

Trivia:

The "Oblique Strategies" cards that appear in the movie were originally invented by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt in 1975.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the GTO guy arrives he places a few aluminum drink cans on the ground and they clearly sound empty. When he and Nova pick up the Hitchhiker Awaiting 'True Call', they give him one of the cans which is now full.

Quotes:

Video Backpacker: To me, my thing is, a video image is much more powerful and useful than an actual event. Like back when I used to go out, when I was last out, I was walking down the street and this guy, that came barreling out of a bar, fell right in front of me, and he had a knife right in his back, landed right on the ground and...

Movie Connections:

Features Videodrome (1983)

Soundtrack:

White Bread

The key to this movie is Linklater's taxi monologue

About quantum theory and Schroedinger's cat. Each time one potential outcome becomes the case, the other potentials collapse. But all other outcomes are thought to exist in alternate realities. Each time we become invested in one branch of the narrative, the camera takes us somewhere else. But the character we leave continues to exist and his or her story is assumed to continue -- only not before our eyes.

What do we think, or hope the cops found out from the guy who killed his mother. Something. Or other. All outcomes. And none.

Overthinking it? Perhaps. But this marvelous movie keeps teasing us along, making us think it's going to zig when it's going to zag. This reminds me of the joke about people who kept going back to see "Titanic" hoping that this time, maybe the ship won't sink. With "Slacker," the movie will always be the same, but it will never be the same movie because we can never remember exactly where or how it's going to branch.

I love this movie. I can't get enough of it.