Dazed and Confused (1993) dir. Richard Linklater

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I am screening this comedy classic in my cinema studies class this semester. Directed by the great Richard Linklater: Slackers, Boyhood, the 'Before' Trilogy, and School of Rock, to name just a few. The flick has become legendary (it is now in the Criterion Collection), and my students love it.

Linklater, a sympathetic director of young people, shows the dizzy idiocy of high school in small town Texas in 1976. The kids are lovable lost souls, high on drugs, drink, muscle cars, and girls or boys as dictated by their gender, in other words, doing whatever they can to get out from under the thumb of Coach DumbAss.

I can testify that Linklater has these kids down flat, since 1976 was the first year I taught high school and I recognize all these kids.

With a young Matthew McConaughey and Ben Affleck.