Classic DVD: Slacker (1991)

December 6, 2010 in Film | Permalink

Teresa Taylor peddling an alleged Madonna pap smear, in the film's most famous scene.

Richard Linklater’s fresh and fascinating 1991 debut, Slacker, is an action film if you consider walking slow and talking fast to be action. Using a $25K budget, a screenplay with no narrative thread and a cast of seemingly loco locals in Austin, Texas, Linklater made a movie that challenged the prevailing notion of what an independent film had to be if it aspired to commercial success.

The movie is structured as a chain reaction in which the camera eavesdrops on a conversation and then departs with people who had some contact (often glancing) with those having the conversation. Then it listens in on the new conversation, which has nothing to do with the one that preceded it, and leaves with the next subjects. And so on. The people indulging in the bull sessions are underemployed, anarchic Gen-X townies who’ve given up on society without giving in. Some of these self-styled pariahs passionately suggest violent insurrection may be the answer to the country’s woes, but they don’t seem eager to leave their apartments to partake in such a struggle. And they’re just as fixated on the ridiculous as the profound. Some questions that arise: Have astronauts been on the moon since the ’50s? Is a stolen Madonna pap smear a salable commodity? Is Elvis Presley alive and supporting himself as an Elvis impersonator?

Any of these scenes might seem slight on their own, but the movie has an overarching philosophy that belies its casual tone. As one character imparts about another matter altogether: “The underlying order is chaos.” (Available from Netflix and other outlets.)

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