Here we are witness to a sea of mangled intent, to stop here and dissect what we know and what we see before us is to still lay in a bed of adoration. There are few misfires, and the misfires could be swiftly forgiven. If Richard Linklater had not survived 2004, he would undoubtedly be held in much higher regard with me than he does in 2013, which as it stands is not a low regard by anyone’s standards.
THE TREMBLING
‘The Newton Boys’ (1998)
Grade: C
The Newton Boys would become the first sign of a stumbling artist, or one that simply ran so hard and so fast that the stream began to run unsurprisingly low. The distinct theatrics of his previous endeavors would seem to have completely dissipated here, for this is a film that whilst nothing close to a bad one, is decidedly not one that features Linklater’s voice. Films like this would come again, and in larger numbers, with an ever increasing quality decline. The Newton Boys ultimately feels closer to a Scorsese or a Mann joint, but without the genre experience to ascend mediocrity. I stray from calling this a dud, but in comparison to his previous four films, the sheer strength of his preceding voice, The Newton Boys moves from lukewarm mediocrity straight into the camp of inferiority and poorness. It wasn’t the loudest, but it was the first misfire.
‘Waking Life’ (2001)
Grade: A
Swiftly after his seemingly singular misstep Waking Life became one of the most enticing and enigmatic projects Linklater has ever been a part of. He was back, and it felt like he’d never left, the beautiful meandering of Slacker was reborn using rotoscope technology to create this infinitely alluring portrait of eternal dreams. If you have ever been subjected to the tumultuous discussion of “What is the most pretentious film ever made?” then you have surely had long heated discussions about Waking Life already. Waking Life has no foreseeable objective—”I think I’m being prepared for something”—it presents no answers, no clear messages or rationale. It’s a chaotic spiral of amalgamated philosophies and irresistible ambulating, and all of it beautiful unfiltered Linklater. Magnetic existentialist meandering around the opaque. Mesmerizing isn’t a long enough word. The constant illusion of a dream-like reality ensures that this is one of Linklater’s finest cinematic forays, whether the most pretentious film of all-time or the greatest, unforgettable is the true word for it.
‘Tape’ (2001)
Grade: B
It is a firm and common belief that Linklater’s utilitarian crop of ‘non-stop-talkie’ films will forever be his greatest achievements in cinema, hardly an attack of Linklater’s cinematic stature, as 50% of his entire filmography belongs in this field of dreams. The films in this crop however are not analogous, from the romanticized streets of France to subUrbia to infinite dream levels to the Hotel No. 19 of Tape, Linklaters films attack a sprawling level of topics in this congruent and beloved style. Tape might just be the most excruciating and anxiety-ridden of the bunch, showing more of his glimmering cynicism that was seen in SubUrbia, yet confiding it to a single hotel room brimming with bitterness and hate. The three high school ‘friends’ rekindle their mandated glory days without nostalgia or romanticization, instead with confusion and resentment, Ethan Hawke’s character sums everything up neatly; “Would you guys just figure out what the fuck you’re talking about?”. Tape is an ugly film, and further proof that he’s not just a romantic with doubts of cynicism within, but that there’s a storm brewing down there. The abrasive nature of Tape caused it to be overlooked by most, and possibly rightly so, it’s incessant virulence is not for the weak of heart, and it is not for the wide-eyed romantics that follow Linklater.
‘School of Rock’ (2003)
Grade: B-
School of Rock is undoubtedly the most fun addition to the Linklater filmography grotto. None of the the alienation, the rambling, the meandering, the malaise, the discontent of other Linklater pictures is found here. Perhaps that’s why School of Rock doesn’t quite feel like a Richard Linklater film. Yet the film falls under a peculiar pile of forgiveness, for its endearing and lively antics grant it a level of absolution. The film isn’t strong, the film isn’t Linklater, but the film is good. A level of goodness that transcends the boundaries of this retrospective. But here it is, swinging its feet under its chair with a lackadaisical grin in the midst of towering giants, and one has to wonder, just how did it get here?
‘Before Sunset’ (2004)
Grade: A
Before Sunset was long hailed as my defining Linklater film, shaming all the self-doubt and uncertainties or its predecessor, gravitating Celine and Jesse back towards each other in an increasingly romantic and amorous fashion only to briskly leave us for another 9 years again 80 minutes later. Since roaming through his filmography a few times now I’ve come to resign from that position, believing that I truly enjoy the equivocal pain Before Sunrise causes in its ending, and most importantly, that with his filmography in totality under close scrutinization, that there can be no defining Linklater, that Linklater too is an amalgamation of all these ideas and concepts that he so desperately has tried to portray in his life. “The Before Series” is an ever-enchanting array of spellbinding enthusiasm, is there truly any room for a cynical soul to breathe? If anything Before Sunset (and to a smaller extent Before Midnight) confirms the utter quelling of his pessimistic side to a small whisper in comparison to his booming optimism.
In 1988 a young Richard Linklater met a woman named Amy Lehrhaupt, whose chance meeting would inspire the entire series, unbeknownst to her, as she had passed before the first film had been released. Here lay a cause for ruination aside an idealized cinematic interpretation, if biographical nature had adhered to reality, “Sunset” would not exist. Yet it does, and what does that say about our fearless leader? A stentorian optimist remains seven years later, and seven years later, in another seven, continuing to thrust on, stamping his unmistakable romanticism into every street corner and every street performer, with an unbridled need to fill a world with color.
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