Slacker (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Slacker (1990) is an American film written and directed by Richard Linklater, who also appears in the film. Slacker was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991.
In 2012, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
Slacker follows a single day in the life of an ensemble of mostly under-30 bohemians and misfits in Austin, Texas. The film follows various characters and scenes, never staying with one character or conversation for more than a few minutes before picking up someone else in the scene and following them.
The characters include Linklater as a talkative taxi passenger, a UFO buff who insists the U.S. has been on the moon since the 1950s, a JFK conspiracy theorist, an elderly anarchist who befriends a man trying to rob his house, a television set collector, and a hipster woman trying to sell a Madonna pap smear. The woman selling the pap smear appears on the film poster, and was played by Butthole Surfers drummer Teresa Taylor.
Most of the characters grapple with feelings of social exclusion or political marginalization, which are recurring themes in their conversations. They discuss social class, terrorism, joblessness, and government control of the media.
Cast
- Richard Linklater as "Should Have Stayed at the Bus Station"
- Rudy Basquez as Taxicab Driver
- Mark James as "Hit-and-Run Son"
- Bob Boyd as Officer Bozzio
- Terrence Kirk as Officer Love
- Stella Weir as Stephanie from Dallas
- Teresa Taylor as Pap Smear Pusher
- Mark Harris as T-shirt Terrorist
- Frank Orrall as "Happy Go-Lucky Guy"
- Abra Moore as "Has Change"
- Louis Black as Paranoid Paper Reader
- Sarah Harmon as "Has Faith in Groups"
- John Slate as Conspiracy-A-Go-Go author
- Lee Daniel as GTO
- Louis Mackey as Old Anarchist
- Scott Rhodes as Disgruntled Grad Student
- Kim Krizan as "Questions Happiness"
- Athina Rachel Tsangari as Cousin from Greece (credited as Rachel Reinhardt)
- Kalman Spelletich as Video Backpacker
