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Films

Slacker

Colin Bartie digs the countercultural theme in Slacker and other films by Richard Linklater.

The subject of Richard Linklater’s debut 1991 film Slacker was a disenchanted generation that refused to buy into the prevalent society of America, and in doing so gave its name to a new way of life, so-called ‘slacking’. As a result many young people choosing to opt out of consumer society headed for Austin, Texas, Linklater’s working base – not unlike the early hippies who had gone to San Francisco in the 60s, and the beatniks to Greenwich Village in the 50s.

Slacker follows an ensemble of bohemians, dreamers and misfits living in and around the Austin University campus, over the course of a single day and night. The camera follows various characters and scenes, never staying with one character or conversation for more than a few minutes before picking up someone else in the scene and following them instead. Linklater’s direction follows whatever character from the slacking community happens to walk into an ongoing conversation – a dazzling technical triumph that is made to look deceptively easy.

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