Dazed and Confused
1993 · Directed by Richard Linklater
Original language: English
- comedy
- drama
The story
The adventures of a group of Texas teens on their last day of school in 1976, centering on student Randall Floyd, who moves easily among stoners, jocks and geeks. Floyd is a star athlete, but he also likes smoking weed, which presents a conundrum when his football coach demands he sign a "no drugs" pledge.
What it’s like
Warm, sun-faded summer light pours through the windows of cars, backyards and a small-town main drag, and the camera drifts with an easy, unhurried roam, often following groups of kids from one loose scene to the next. Its palette is dusty and golden, with worn denim, feathered hair, wood-paneled rooms and a 1970s Texas heat that feels thick enough to touch. The soundtrack does much of the work: classic rock spilling from car stereos and open windows gives the film a loose, rolling pulse. The mood is lazy, funny and nostalgic, with a bittersweet undertow about the last day of school and the feeling that everything is about to change. Its tone is easygoing and episodic rather than tense, and its people, a crowd of teenagers testing their own edges, slowly find that they are more alike than they thought. Intensity is low: there is drinking, drug use, paddling and some bullying, but no real gore, and the menace stays mostly at the level of teenage posturing. It suits a lazy weekend afternoon, a summer rewatch, or a long drive with the windows down, and it is made for people who enjoy hangout comedies and shaggy coming-of-age films.
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