DAZED AND CONFUSED

Dazed and Confused - Review
"Dazed and Confused"
Rating: R
1993
Director : Richard Linklater
Producer : Sean Daniel,James Jacks,Richard Linklater
Screenwiter : Richard Linklater
Starring : Jason London,Joey Lauren Adams,Milla Jovovich,Shawn Andrews,Rory Cochrane,Adam Goldberg,Anthony Rapp,Sasha Jenson,Marissa Ribisi,Deena Martin,Michelle Burke,Cole Hauser,Christine Harnos,Wiley Wiggins,Mark Vandermeulen,Esteban Powell,Jeremy Fox,Ben Affleck,Parker Posey,Matthew McConaughey



This film started a number of careers, and it's definitely a classic and a high moment in the career of director Richard Linklater (also known for Slacker, the disappointing Before Sunrise, and the new Waking Life). It is an entertaining fictionalization of high school graduation weekend of the senior class of 1976 in Linklater’s former home city of Austin, Texas. Jocks, rednecks, cheerleaders, stoners, frosh, and the other high school demographic groups are all lovingly and respectfully rendered on Linklater’s canvas. Though I didn’t graduate until the mid-‘80s, I’m pretty sure that the amount of pot smoking is this film is not exaggerated. And as evidence of the director’s commitment to brutal realism, Foghat’s “Slow Ride” is heard not once, not twice, but three times before the end of the movie. Rock on.


Annette's opinion:
Growing up watching this movie, I love how they capture the gestures towards underclassmen as so casual, and how the attitudes of high school students have drastically changed. (At least in my high school). This movie describes how you start from not really having a popular image in middle school to befriending the right crowd and making a name for yourself in high school. The movie tries to portray every clique you can imagine in high school, and it just depends on which crowd you fall into. This movie illustrates the typical teenage struggle with school.