Dazed And Confused (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #19 extract: Dazed And Confused (1993)

There are a plethora of rebellious teen, end of high school, coming-of-age movies. Everything from Rebel Without A Cause to American Graffiti to Grease to Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink, American Pie to Mean Girls follows the same basic paradigm with the same fundamental themes. Dazed And Confused is no exception to this rule, though, it is one of the most unique and individual of these archetypal teen movies. This all comes down to Linklater's building of his 70s Austin hippie world, and his population of it with reams of memorable and instantaneously likeable characters. 

Whilst, like basically all of Linklater's films, some will say this is a little pretentious and talkative at times, there's nothing I can wholeheartedly fault with this movie. Maybe I could point out a few bits of bad ADR, but this is entirely overshadowed by Linklater's ability to embed innumerable subtle emotional layers into every one of his scenes. For example, whilst the hazing sequences are horrifying, tense and confusing, they too are thrilling, joyous and eventually heartwarming. Much like high school this film is then a jungle of torment and maybe also the encapsulation of some of the best times a person can have, rife with absurdity and discombobulation. 

A film I could watch endlessly Dazed And Confused is pure brilliance.