A long overdue documentary study of Richard Linklater, a film-maker whose lo-fi 90s debut Slacker pretty well reinvented “indie” as a genre, who created one of the great love stories with his Before Sunrise trilogy and whose real-time masterpiece Boyhood dominates the skyline of modern American cinema. Like Gus van Sant, Linklater has an auteur signature that he can set aside for a regular studio paycheck – and this film tactfully hints that his mainstream movies of the noughties like Bad News Bears, Fast Food Nation and Me and Orson Welles were forgivably disappointing because he had his mind on Boyhood the whole time. However, this was the time he also made very interesting movies A Scanner Darkly (2006) – and of course Before Midnight (2013).
Black and Bernstein get extended interview time with Linklater, in which he is all enigmatic affability. He genuinely does seem to be as equable and laid-back as he appears. However, an engaging anecdote about the young Linklater, recording the audio for his film with a Sony Walkman in his pocket, hints at his almost fanatical dedication to getting the work done. This documentary does a good job in restoring the reputation of his eerie rotoscope animation Waking Life (2001) as one of his very best films. I find his School of Rock overrated as a comedy, although its commercial success was vital in maintaining Linklater’s career trajectory. This movie has a closeup of a review which calls him the “American flaneur”. An excellent description. This documentary responds intelligently to this most intelligent of film-makers.
