Thursday, August 29, 2013

Slacker (1991)

Today's film is Slacker.  I think the point of this film is that is has no point.  Do films need a point?  I would say yes.  I will rate this film a 2/10.


The camera goes around town, filming people's conversations.  Each person says their piece, the camera will get distracted, and like a child, start following someone else's conversation.  These speeches range from conspiracies to philosophy to insanity.

I went to college in a tiny Southern college town much like Austin, where there is only the college and little else.  Nobody talks like this.  Yes, we did try to discuss philosophy and tried to see the world beyond ourselves and our future career choices, but not on this level.  We must have been focusing on our major and actually trying to accomplish something, which seems to be the exact opposite purpose of any character in this film.  Everyone seems to be having some existential crisis and are trying their hardest to express themselves.  I have heard more pseudo-zen bullshit in this movie than in both Matrix sequels.  I believe that they have much more time to ponder the wonders of the universe and the inner workings of political scandals since they don't have classes or a job.  Maybe they are hiding behind their big speeches because they are afraid of being failures.

Also, in an effort to promote realism, the filmmakers hired actors that didn't fit a standard Hollywood type.  I mean that most of these people are ugly as sin.  On top of that, they are forced to learn an incomprehensible script.  If the filmmakers were going for a realistic angle, I wish they would have put more effort into it.

2 comments:

  1. Oh, good for you. I expected to be the only one that didn't like this movie.

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