Slacker (1991)
Director: Richard Linklater
Actors: Louis Black, Abra Moore, Kim Krizan
Runtime: 105 min
This movie follows the everyday life of inhabitants of the U.S. City of Austin, the capital of Texas. It takes place in a single day and the story is linear and does not stay with one character or conversation for more than a few minutes, but constantly changes its focus.
The protagonists are mainly in their twenties and are characterized by apathy, superficiality and inertia. They are the children of the 1960s generation whose rebellion against the system ended with bitter defeat. Even though they are young and relatively educated, their potential is wasted. They aren’t interested in work, or social change, nor do they have a serious aim in life. They’re mostly unemployed, but have enough money to drift and can afford the superficiality that is best seen through the lack of life aspirations and empty conversation, futile intellectualizing.
They are depoliticized: resignation has taken the place of action. Rather than standing up to the system, they languish on its outskirts. Awareness of the historically proven lies and cover-ups of the establishment are intermingled with apparently untenable conspiracy theories and arbitrary paranoias. Thereby, the anti-systemic legacy of the previous generation has been successfully neutralized, state crimes are relativized, truth itself is lost in idle fantasies and no longer sounds persuasive.
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