Richard Linklater, born in Houston in 1960, is one of the most prolific and respected filmmakers working today. A staple of the Austin creative scene, the innovative director refuses to be penned in by any one style or genre, his work spanning drama (Before Sunrise), comedy (School of Rock), animation (Waking Life), documentary (Inning by Inning), and much more. In honour of the release of his latest feature film, the genre-bending romantic comedy Hit Man, Universal Cinema reaches into the archives to take a closer look at a few notable gems from the director’s extensive filmography.
SLACKER (1990)
Linklater’s second feature film, Slacker, endures as one of the seminal films of the early nineties American independent film scene. Made on a micro-budget of $23 000, the film takes place over a single day in Austin, Texas. Shot in a loosely improvisational style, the film was conceived as a sort of cinematic, conversational relay race, following a series of eccentric locals for a few minutes each before moving on to another connected character. A love letter of sorts to the bohemian arts scene of Austin of the time, the film has been praised as a vivid portrait of a generation, embodying the restless, bristling spirit of Generation X. Linklater himself appears in the original and dynamic film, which inspired a panoply of independent filmmakers in the ensuing decades and telegraphs the intimate, dialogue-driven hallmarks of many of the director’s later films. One of Linklater’s greatest contributions to the cinematic canon, Slacker provides a vivid demonstration of how an originality concept ably realized can elevate even the most modest of projects to the stratosphere of cinematic heights.
BERNIE (2011)
One of the most overlooked entries in Linklater’s body of work, Bernie takes inspiration from a Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth. A stranger-than-fiction tale in the ilk of his latest film, Bernie reunites the director with Jack Black (School of Rock) as assistant mortician Bernie Tiede and Matthew McConaughey (The Newton Boys) as prosecutor Danny Buck Davison. While McConaughey chews up the scenery, Black serves up a suitably restrained performance as the popular Bernie, who has seemingly managed to befriend each and every resident of Carthage, Texas, including the notoriously disliked (but extremely wealthy) Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine). The newly arrived Bernie becomes Marjorie’s faithful companion, accompanying her on lavish trips and attending to her every whim. Soon enough, however, her controlling behaviour pushes him over the edge, and he shoots her in the back with an armadillo gun before hiding her in a garage freezer. The reactions of the townspeople and ensuing trial provide ample comedic fodder, and Linklater plays with the mockumentary format to great effect. Blurring the line between fact and fiction by casting a mix of actors and real-life Carthage residents, the director spins an entertaining yarn grounded in a lovingly and vividly rendered depiction of East Texas.
BOYHOOD (2014)
One of Linklater’s greatest strengths as a filmmaker is his fearless drive to experiment with the form. Perhaps his most successful experiment, Boyhood was shot over the course of twelve years, requiring an impressive and largely unprecedented level of commitment from the director and the core cast. The ultimate coming-of-age drama, Boyhood follows the childhood and adolescence of Mason Evans Jr. (newcomer Ellar Coltrane) from the ages of six to eighteen. Mason’s divorced parents are played by Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, with Linklater’s daughter Lorelei playing Mason’s sister Samantha. Shooting from a loosely realized set of plot points, the team assembled for a shortened shoot once a year between 2002 and 2013, enabled by a huge leap of faith from distributor IFC, who funded the production throughout its entire run. While adhering to his original creative concept, the conceit required Linklater to work closely with his actors, reconnecting with his leads at each new stage of the project, especially the quickly maturing Coltrane. In a fashion similar to his work on the Before trilogy, his actors made a significant contribution to the creation of their characters, gifting the film a deeply unique sense of realism and intimacy unlike anything I’ve seen committed to screen before or since.
Slacker, Bernie, and Boyhood are currently streaming on Criterion Channel.
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