SubUrbia (1997)

Richard Linklater definitely has an eye for America's mundane middle class, his films Slacker (1991) and Dazed and Confused (1993) brought an artistic perspective to the experience of the suburban miscreant that in many ways becoming the defining discourse on youth in the 1990s. Highlighting the ritualistic 'Friday night' and purposeless afternoons, Linklater uncovered the hidden cultural vibrancy within a section of the population who are so often maligned as 'cultureless'. In a particular montage from Dazed and Confused, images of young people cruising the main drag are flashed within a backdrop of the neon twilight typical of America's commercialized sprawl. From the eye of the uninspired, the environment seems completely homogeneous, yet Linklater's intrinsic sensibility of the suburban aesthetic succeeds in portraying this as a scene of excitement and all out possibility where the characters look alive and enthusiastic amidst such an artificial and wearisome environment—it is a defining moment in Linklater's uniquely modern depiction of the sublime, his triumph to find beauty in monotonous. Linklater's adaptation of Erica Bogosian's play subUrbia (1996) follows the same current as the scene in Dazed, yet sans the youthful idealism and expanding upon the central theme of Bogosian's work: suburban decay.SubUrbia is stock full of familiar images of the suburban aesthetic 20 years down the road from Dazed (Both filmed in suburban Texas) and backed with a soundtrack courtesy of Sonic Youth (a band whose sound I would argue replicates the feeling of 1990's America.) In a consistently sedated tone, the film follows a group of substance abusing 20-something nobodies in their stagnant town of Burnfield. Terrified to actually confront any progress or purpose, these pseudo-adults stand around in a convenience store parking lot talking about themselves in self-congratulatory manner (the film's particular capitalization of the second 'U' in the title speaks to this theme of self-absorption.) The story's protagonist Jeff (played very convincingly by Giovanni Ribisi) is a jaded, unmotivated anti-hero with seemingly good intentions, but never the follow through to back them up. Consequently, he lives out of a pup-tent in his parents' garage, barely holding a part time and satisfying his latent intellectual streak with a night class at the local community college. Jeff's girlfriend Sooze (Amie Carey) is a sort of caricature of the suburban bred artist set on 'escaping' to New York, while Sooze's character hints at aspects of the genuine, she is ultimately malleable to outside forces such as the romanticized escape dream and the reemergence of a former fellow burnout turned rock star 'Pony'(Jayce Bartok.) The others group in the group of misfit are decidedly more volatile, killing time with a self-destructive consumption of booze and harassing a Pakistani convenience store owner Nazeer (Ajay Naidu) who they xenophobically refer to as 'Mohammed' even though his real name is not revealed until the film's closing climax. Jeff's best friend Tim (Nicky Katt) is the prime perpetrator of the racism towards Nazeer, referring to him as a 'brown bastard' and yelling sexual and racial epithets at the store owner's wife after she pulls a gun on him during one confrontation. Tim is far and away the least likable character of the film, and it would be easy to write him off as a cut-out racial bully, yet he is also the films most powerful representation. Tim alludes on several occasions to his service in the air force and success as a high school football star, but never does he portray his experience as being in any way glorious or important, nor does he speak of anything in such a manner, he seems numbed by his blasé surroundings and only displays emotion in the context of anger or violence toward outside forces. He is the archetype of what a harsh suburban environment creates: an angry, ignorant addict trapped in his own misdoings. Interestingly, Tim is the only one of the characters who does not in at least some way attest to being an 'artist'. Jeff justifies his laziness with a hobby of creative writing, Pony has found success with his songs (a success that Jess and Tim highly resent) and even goof-ball druggie Buff (played with the now familiar zaniness of Steve Zahn) claims to make videos. The motif is very ironic for the filmmakers Linklater and Bogosian, as it seems to critique the salience of white, suburban-raised voices in the artistic world. The group of friends exists in opposition to the film's only pragmatic character, Nazeer, who takes pride in being a business owner and on his way to a computer science degree, while the likes of Tim and Buff drift through life with their only goal being to wake up the next more and start the cycle of decay over again. Jeff sits on the fringe of these two worlds as evidenced by his civil interactions with Nazeer and being the only one to actually ask for his real name. There is a sparkle of enlightenment in Jeff, and he even reaches his own cathartic epiphany, screaming passionately about the privilege of being able to be alive, yet the motivation draining presence of his friends and environment ultimately appear to have him cornered. In the films closing scene, a lesser mentioned friend of the group Bee Bee is found on the convenience store's roof having suffered an overdose. Nazeer looks directly at Jeff in disbelief and sadness, saying "You have everything and you throw it all away!" Jeff says nothing in response, just staring back at Nazeer blankly, his face distraught but blank in the same moment—he recognizes the plague of his situation, yet remains incapable of action. ********

Ah, the suburbs. That wasteland to which white people move so that they don't have to live around ethnic folks. It's hard to tell whether movies usually idealize the suburbs or trash them, but "SubUrbia" certainly does the latter. Portraying several people's empty lives in an unidentified suburban land - although I assumed that it was LA; it was plastic enough to be LA - they pull no punches here. One of the aspects is that you can see how they treat the one ethnic person (Ajay Naidu). But what can you say about the suburbs (except maybe that they're a hell on Earth)? Anyway, Richard Linklater was showing some of the skills that he later brought to "Waking Life". This is a movie worth seeing. Also starring Nicky Katt, Parker Posey, Giovanni Ribisi and Steve Zahn.

If "Dazed and Confused" was the 'high' then "SubUrbia" if most definitely the 'down'. It's basically the flipside of "Dazed and Confused", where youthful hedonism has been replaced by 20-something boredom. It's a post-college movie where characters have found themselves unfulfilled in every capacity. It's a pack mentality, where you hang-out with the same gang from high school only to find you've out grown each other and resent one another's ambitions because you know you yourself lack the impetus to do anything constructive with your life. These characters are losers in every respect, clinging on to their high school way of life, reluctant to take initiative and move on. They constantly put each other down, bicker and make efforts to humiliate, yet the depressing thing is they have no one but each other. This is a quality film that remains one of Linklater's most under appreciated efforts. No one has the ability to present young characters with the insight, skill and craft Lanklater possesses. He is truly one of America's finest filmmakers working today and "SubUrbia" is a great film that still holds up.

Well written by Eric Bogosian, but the ending leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It seems that the moral of this film is to stab your friends in the back and to sell out to succeed in life.Nicky Katt's Tim is my favorite character in cinema history. He brilliantly portrayed an ex-soldier with gallons of hatred stored up inside. I saw a lot of myself in that character, and it was quite a wakeup call.The actor's did a great job, especially Katt, Giovanni Ribisi and Ajay Naidu. I couldn't stand Amie Carey's character, and applauded Nicky Katt every time he told her off. This is the best film for the Gen-X crowd ever made, as Bogosian perfectly creates these youthful characters who are too old to be young and too young to be old. I find myself reciting Giovanni's rants on society often.I highly recommend this film, but the ending may disappoint you.