Word: soundtracks
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...title cut from the 1978 soundtrack Saturday Night Fever, "Stayin' Alive" remains one of the most recognizable disco hits...
Indeed, director Joseph Ruben conspires to keep the spotlight on the young prodigies and off everyone else. The adults (Wendy Crewson, David Morse, Daniel Kelly, and Jaqueline Brooks) are competent and unobtrusive. The filming emphasizes realism and immediacy instead of effects; this reviewer didn't even notice a soundtrack. The direction was notable for its minimalism...
...only other reason to see the film, besides Slater's acting, is, sadly enough, the soundtrack. The reason for the movie's title (and the reason you stay awake during the dialogue) is the mixture of music like the mellow Leonard Cohen, the Cowboy Junkies with Sound Garden and other grunge bands. The music, original and unusual in choice, keeps the movie at least sonically interesting. Yes, the director has inserted the (aren't we surprised?) love lyrics of "I want you, etc." during the hook-up scene but other than that, it is quality music...
...this aside, "Dazed and Confused," which was made on a $2 million budget versus "Slacker"'s $30,000, is amusing and sophisticated entertainment. Linklater follows various groups of classmates around on the afternoon, evening and night of the last day of high school, accompanied by a nostalgic '70s soundtrack of ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, etc. There aren't main characters in the traditional sense, but the camera rests longest on the high school quarterback Pink (Jason London), and on soon-to-be-first-year Mitch (Wiley Wiggins). If Pink wants to stay on the football team...
This film isn't totally without redemption, though--the soundtrack is one of the rare bright spots. Adding groups such as Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Soul Asylum and Toad the Wet Sprocket was the movie's only stroke of genius. Obviously it was meant to attract a group of money-spending teenagers, even though the smartest of them will spend their money on the soundtrack and stay away from the theater...