subUrbia (61)

Directed by: Richard Linklater

Starring: Giovanni Ribisi, Steve Zahn, Jayce Bartok, Parker Posey

The Pitch: Tensions rise to the surface among a group of disaffected teens following the return of a successful ex-classmate.

Theo Sez: Cool opening credits - manicured suburban landscapes to the strains of "Town Without Pity" ; then the action starts and we're plunged into a very different kind of film, far less elegant and suggestive - the dark turgid heart of writer Eric Bogosian's rant-infested worldview, where, when a character calls McDonald's a "mosh-pit of consumerism", you can almost see the author standing just off-camera, mouthing the words approvingly. You could call it a post-punk movie, the kind that (a) showcases an alienated anti-everythingism but (b) tries to go beyond it by having its characters cheerfully admit to being alienated ; it's the knowing, skin-deep nihilism of a band like Green Day (our hero even looks a bit like their lead singer). It's also a fairly accurate picture of the shapeless, self-conscious rebellion of trapped teens in soulless suburbs, which is why the film works while it's just observing its characters - especially since Linklater's respect for "the space between people" remains, and he has a fine knack for unhurried, exploratory pacing. Problem is it's all based on a play, meaning there has to be some high drama (a gunfight, an overdose, a suspected murder) before the final curtain - exactly the kind of closure this director's loose, open-minded style doesn't stand for. The result is a hybrid of two quite different movies, both moderately successful on their own terms - intriguing, sympathetically-detailed characters in an effectively claustrophobic melodrama spanning a single neon-lit night (the daylight at the end comes as a real shock). It's a bit like one of its characters, the Pakistani store-keeper bedevilled by the teens and contemptuous of how they're "throwing it all away" : he's both crudely symbolic - immigrant graft, showing up the kids' comfortable malaise - and convincingly low-key. He shouldn't really add up to anything very powerful ; but, like the film itself, he does.