Linklater brings his ‘hangout’ cinema vibe to the French New Wave era, centering on Godard’s attempt to direct his first feature, in this breezy, blissful ‘comedy’ (for cinephiles at least) that is nostalgia-laden and wonderfully cast.
Beers, drugs, hazing rituals, and unchecked rebelliousness mark the last day of high school circa May 1976, Texas, as Linklater expertly drops us in the middle of the chaos, with a killer rock soundtrack to boot.
Linklater’s breakthrough indie has the kind of anarchic energy that still feels relevant today, capturing America at the crossroads of stagnation and progress, as his camera roams from one character to another like a stream of consciousness.
While it doesn’t seem as clever a ‘hitman’ film as Linklater probably imagined it to be on paper, his attempt should provide some cursory pleasures, fashioning a mildly transgressive romance between a fake contract killer working for the police and his client.
There’s 1960s nostalgia overload in Linklater’s third animated feature, which is a mostly engaging take on the cultural phenomena surrounding the 1969 Moon landing, told through one boy’s fantasy of becoming an astronaut.
Eternality Tan 