Everybody Wants Some!! (15.)
Directed by Richard Linklater.
Starring Blake Jenner, Glen Powell, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, J. Quinton Johnson and Zoey Deutch and. 117 mins
A year ago Richard Linklater was almost an Oscar winning director: after sweeping through awards season, Boyhood got pipped at the post by Birdman. Any other director would have used their position as de facto Oscar winner to make some big, earnest project. That Linklater has followed up an almost Oscar win with a virtual remake of Animal House that starts with someone turning up My Sharona on the radio and has two exclamation marks in its title is something you've got to love about him.
Some time ago my North American born brother-in-law asked me which films I felt reflected my teenage years in England. I had to reply Animal House and Diner, two films that aren't English or even feature teenagers, and don't have really any connection with my life. (I could've said Gregory's Girl I suppose but much as I love that film it doesn't quite have my heart like those two do.) The point here is that in the movies, nostalgia doesn’t have to be site specific.
His choice was Richard Linklater's third film Dazed and Confused, a dreamy, sun-kissed meandering look back to his adolescence in Texas, following various students on the last day of school before the long summer of 1976. This is a companion piece, set in 1980 but still infused with the 70s, disco and punk, about a Texas college baseball team enjoying a long weekend of drinking, drug taking and girl chasing before the new term starts. The team all live together in two houses and the various freshmen have to get through various initiations from the senior team members. The sun shines and everybody is young and athletic and, for the moment, all is well with their lives. Our focus is Jake (Jenner) newly arrived, a pitcher, ambitious but realistic, who seems to bond easily and quickly with his new team mates.
That it is about a sport teams, a successful sports team at that, is a radical choice. These are jocks, usually the swaggering bullies in high school drama. The film hints at how obnoxious they could be to those not in their gang, but for the duration we are in their gang, looking out.
There is absolutely no drama, no conflicts to be resolved, and their absence is a blessed relief. These people exist and go to parties and have fun. They aren't particularly realistic, being a bit better looking and more articulate than real life, especially Finn (Powell.) It's funny, but it's more about fun. This, this is really what a feelgood movie is, because at the end you feel better about life.
Though I've generally liked his films, I've never fully appreciated Linklater, but he has a very special and rare talent – he can put life up on the big screen. He can show you an existence that is entirely different from your own and make it seem like its something taken from your memories. The world will never be short of nostalgic, coming-of-age dramas and drama but this is a little different. There is no edge, no portent to it. In American Graffiti, as the kids cruise along the strip on a Saturday night, you are aware of how fleeting their youth is, that adulthood is bearing down on them. Not here though, everybody is so wrapped up in the bliss of the here and now to worry about the future: Everybody Wants Some is that perfect moment, perfectly caught.
Directed by Richard Linklater.
Starring Blake Jenner, Glen Powell, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, J. Quinton Johnson and Zoey Deutch and. 117 mins
A year ago Richard Linklater was almost an Oscar winning director: after sweeping through awards season, Boyhood got pipped at the post by Birdman. Any other director would have used their position as de facto Oscar winner to make some big, earnest project. That Linklater has followed up an almost Oscar win with a virtual remake of Animal House that starts with someone turning up My Sharona on the radio and has two exclamation marks in its title is something you've got to love about him.
Some time ago my North American born brother-in-law asked me which films I felt reflected my teenage years in England. I had to reply Animal House and Diner, two films that aren't English or even feature teenagers, and don't have really any connection with my life. (I could've said Gregory's Girl I suppose but much as I love that film it doesn't quite have my heart like those two do.) The point here is that in the movies, nostalgia doesn’t have to be site specific.
His choice was Richard Linklater's third film Dazed and Confused, a dreamy, sun-kissed meandering look back to his adolescence in Texas, following various students on the last day of school before the long summer of 1976. This is a companion piece, set in 1980 but still infused with the 70s, disco and punk, about a Texas college baseball team enjoying a long weekend of drinking, drug taking and girl chasing before the new term starts. The team all live together in two houses and the various freshmen have to get through various initiations from the senior team members. The sun shines and everybody is young and athletic and, for the moment, all is well with their lives. Our focus is Jake (Jenner) newly arrived, a pitcher, ambitious but realistic, who seems to bond easily and quickly with his new team mates.
That it is about a sport teams, a successful sports team at that, is a radical choice. These are jocks, usually the swaggering bullies in high school drama. The film hints at how obnoxious they could be to those not in their gang, but for the duration we are in their gang, looking out.
There is absolutely no drama, no conflicts to be resolved, and their absence is a blessed relief. These people exist and go to parties and have fun. They aren't particularly realistic, being a bit better looking and more articulate than real life, especially Finn (Powell.) It's funny, but it's more about fun. This, this is really what a feelgood movie is, because at the end you feel better about life.
Though I've generally liked his films, I've never fully appreciated Linklater, but he has a very special and rare talent – he can put life up on the big screen. He can show you an existence that is entirely different from your own and make it seem like its something taken from your memories. The world will never be short of nostalgic, coming-of-age dramas and drama but this is a little different. There is no edge, no portent to it. In American Graffiti, as the kids cruise along the strip on a Saturday night, you are aware of how fleeting their youth is, that adulthood is bearing down on them. Not here though, everybody is so wrapped up in the bliss of the here and now to worry about the future: Everybody Wants Some is that perfect moment, perfectly caught.
