Slacker (film)

Slacker is a 1991 film that presents a day in the life in Austin, Texas among its social outcasts and misfits, predominantly the twenty-something set, using a series of linear vignettes. These characters, who in some manner just don't fit into the establishment norms, move seamlessly from one scene to the next, randomly coming and going into one another's lives.
 * Written and directed by Richard Linklater.

Having a Breakthrough Day

 * I've had a total re-calibration of my mind, you know. I mean, it's like, I've been banging my head against this 19th century type, um, what? Thought mode? Construct? Human construct? Well, the wall doesn't exist. It's not there, you know. I mean, they tell you, look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Well, there is no tunnel. There's just no structure. The underlying order is chaos.

Video Backpacker

 * To me, my thing is, a video image is much more powerful and useful than an actual event. Like back when I used to go out, when I was last out, I was walking down the street and this guy, that came barreling out of a bar, fell right in front of me, and he had a knife right in his back, landed right on the ground and... Well, I have no reference to it now. I can't put it on pause. I can't put it on slow mo and see all the little details. And the blood, it was all wrong. It didn't look like blood. The hue was off. I couldn't adjust the hue. I was seeing it for real, but it just wasn't right. And I didn't even see the knife impact on the body. I missed that part.

Hitchhiker

 * I may live badly, but at least I don't have to work to do it.


 * Every single commodity you produce is a piece of your own death!

Others

 * Traumatized Yacht Owner: [to Happy Go-Lucky Guy] Quit... quit... you should quit... YOU should quit... you should... you should... You should- You should quit traumatizing women with sexual intercourse... I should know... I'm a medical doctor... I own a mansion and a yacht... You should quit traumatizing women with sexual intercourse... I should know... I'm a medical doctor...


 * Old Man Recording Thoughts: When young, we mourn for one woman... as we grow old, for women in general. The tragedy of life is that man is never free yet strives for what he can never be. The thing most feared in secret always happens. My life, my loves, where are they now? But the more the pain grows, the more this instinct for life somehow asserts itself. The necessary beauty in life is in giving yourself to it completely. Only later will it clarify itself and become coherent.


 * Dostoyevsky Wannabe: Who's ever written a great work about the immense effort required in order not to create?


 * Old Anarchist: And remember: the passion for destruction is also a creative passion.


 * Disgruntled Grad Student: Every action is a positive action, even if it has a negative result.


 * Anti-Artist: Uh, I don't do much really, I just read, and work here, and, uh, sleep and eat, and, uh, watch movies.


 * T-Shirt Terrorist: Remember, terrorism is the surgical strike capability of the oppressed. Keep on keepin' on!

Dialogue

 * Based on Authoritative Sources: Why in the hell is he throwing it in? It's a perfectly good typewriter.
 * Guy Who Tosses Typewriter: Because! The typewriter isn't the point. The point is it symbolizes the bitch that just fucked him over. It symbolizes the bitch that fucked me over six months ago. And it symbolizes the bitch that's GONNA fuck you over!


 * Working on Same Painting: Sorry, I'm late.
 * Having a Breakthrough Day: That's okay, time doesn't exist.


 * Video Interviewer: So, did you vote in the most recent election?
 * Hitchhiker: Hell, no... I've got less important things to do.


 * Has Faith in Groups: You know, that's what I hate: when you start talking like this, like you just pull in these things from the shit you read, and you haven't thought it out for yourself, no bearing on the world around us, and totally unoriginal.
 * Based on Authoritative Sources: Okay, great. Personal attacks now, is that it? I thought we were beyond that.
 * Has Faith in Groups: It's like you just pasted together these bits and pieces from your "authoritative sources." I don't know. I'm beginning to suspect there's nothing really in there.
 * Based on Authoritative Sources: Suspect? You're beginning to suspect? Oh, that's rich, that's really rich. So what? At least what is there, is based on good sources.


 * Dairy Queen Photographer: So, what? Do you fancy yourself as some sort of artist or what?
 * Anti-Artist: No, I'm an anti-artist.
 * Dairy Queen Photographer: Oooooh, one of those neo-poseur types that hangs out in coffee shops, and... doesn't do much of anything. Yeah.

Cast

 * Richard Linklater - Should Have Stayed at the Bus Station
 * Kim Krizan - Questions Happiness
 * Mark James - Hit-and-Run Son
 * Stella Weir - Stephanie from Dallas
 * John Slate - Conspiracy-A-Go-Go author
 * Louis Mackey - Old anarchist
 * Teresa Taylor - Pap smear pusher
 * Rudy Basquez - Taxicab driver
 * Louis Black - Paranoid paper reader
 * Abra Moore - Has Change
 * Frank Orrall - Happy Go-Lucky Guy
 * Rachael Reinhardt - Cousin from Greece
 * Lee Daniel - GTO
 * Scott Rhodes - Disgruntled grad student
 * Bob Boyd - Officer Bozzio
 * Terrence Kirk - Officer Love
 * Mark Harris - t-shirt terrorist
 * Charles Gunning - Hitchhiker