Slacker
While early city symphonies like BERLIN: SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY were feverish odes to the metropolis that never sleeps, a certain fatigue set in by the end of the 20th century. In SLACKER, Richard Linklater paints a languid portrait of ‘his’ Austin, Texas—a place where the urban rush gives way to the aimless wander.
The tone is set immediately in the opening scene. Linklater himself appears in a cameo, climbing into a taxi, bleary-eyed from sleep. “I had the strangest dream,” he tells the indifferent driver. “It was so vivid that it felt completely real, except that absolutely nothing happened. I was just on my way, staring out the window.”
It is the perfect prologue to the parade of drifting characters that follows. With his meandering film, Linklater gave a face to the generation described by Douglas Coupland in his debut novel Generation X. According to the director, ‘slackers’ aren’t dodging their responsibilities; they simply refuse to waste their time on pursuits that don’t align with who they are. Their productivity exists, but it falls outside the traditional market economy.
In the world of SLACKER, leisure is not a luxury or a reward for hard work. Time is not money, nor a scarce or precious commodity, but a fundamental right—one that allows these characters to roam, talk, think, and simply be. Let yourself be carried away by the languid rhythm of Austin and discover the film that defined a generation.
Showtimes
All screenings have ended
Sunday 26 April, the film will be introduced by Johannes De Breuker, film programmer at De Cinema and author of the book Liever lui dan moe (Better Lazy than Tired).
This film screening is inspired by the new non-fiction book 'Liever lui dan moe' by film programmer Johannes De Breuker. Through filmmakers such as Sofia Coppola, Richard Linklater and Kogonada, he shows how we can reclaim our attention by embracing precisely what the digital world has taken from us: boredom. The book is available from our webshop.
