directed by Richard Linklater
USA 1991

  Richard Linklater's Slacker presents a day in the life of a loose-knit subculture of marginal, eccentric, and overeducated citizens in Austin, Texas. Shooting the film on 16mm for a mere twenty-three thousand dollars, writer/producer/director Linklater and his close-knit crew of friends eschewed a traditional plot, choosing instead to employ long takes and fluid transitions to create a tapestry of over a hundred characters, each as unique as the last, culminating in an episodic portrait of a distinct vernacular culture and a tribute to bohemian cerebration. Slacker is a prescient look at an emerging generation of aggressive nonparticipants, and one of the key films of the American independent film movement of the 1990s.

Theatrical Release: July 5th, 1991 - USA

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DVD Review: Criterion (2 disc) - Region 1 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover

   

CLICK to order from:
Distribution Criterion Collection - Spine # 247 - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime 1:40:03 
Video 1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 7.8 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s   

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:

Audio English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Dolby) 
Subtitles English, None
Features

Release Information:
Studio: Criterion/ Home Vision

Aspect Ratio:
Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1

Edition Details:

DISC ONE
•  New high-definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound supervised by director Richard Linklater and director of photography Lee Daniel, made from original 16mm film elements
•  Three audio commentaries featuring Richard Linklater and members of the cast and crew
•  Casting tapes featuring select "auditions" from the over one-hundred-member cast, with an essay from production manager/casting director Anne Walker-McBay
•  An early film treatment
•  Home movies
•  Ten-minute trailer for a documentary about the landmark Austin café, Les Amis, which served as location for several scenes in Slacker
•  Stills gallery featuring hundreds of rare behind-the-scenes production and publicity photos
•  English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
•  Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

DISC TWO
I•  t's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1988), Linklater's first full-length feature, with commentary by the director, available here for the first time on home video
Woodshock, an early short 16mm film made by Linklater and Lee Daniel in 1985
•  "The Roadmap," the working script of Slacker, including fourteen deleted scenes and alternate takes
Footage from the Slacker tenth-anniversary in Austin, Texas, in 2001
•  Original theatrical trailer
•  Slacker culture essay by Linklater
•  Information about the Austin Film Society, founded in 1985 by Linklater with Daniel, including early flyers from screenings
•  A 64-page booklet featuring essays by author and filmmaker John Pierson (SPIKE MIKE RELOADED: A GUIDED TOUR ACROSS A DECADE OF INDEPENDENT AMERICAN CINEMA) and Michael Barker, head of Sony Pictures Classics, as well as reviews, production notes, a complete cast and crew listing, and an introduction to IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN TO PLOW BY READING BOOKS by Monte Hellman (TWO-LANE BLACKTOP, THE SHOOTING)

DVD Release Date: September 14th, 2004
A digi-pak and book fitted in a slip case
Chapters: 33

 

Comments:

Criterion can even make an indie/low budget film look professional. Great colors/ film grain/great optional subs/Extras out the wazoo... Linklater fans will certainly appreciate the detail and effort that went into this. I'd love to take a tour of Criterion sometime - they look like they must have a staff of 100 to do all this. Amazing! As well as the second disc of extra features - there is a 64 page liner book filled with interesting reading. It might be getting to the stage where there are actually too many extras on their DVDs - I wonder just how many people wade through all of this? Of course though, it is just magnificent to have the option. out of

Final note: The packaging again is 'cool' and unique (see blow).

Gary W. Tooze

 

Packaging - CLICK to enlarge!

 

 




DVD Menus

 

Disc 2 Menus

 

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DVD Box Cover

   

CLICK to order from:
Distribution Criterion Collection - Spine # 247 - Region 1 - NTSC




 

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Gary Tooze