Sunday, November 15, 2020

SubUrbia (1996)

IMDb plot summary: A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.
Directed by Richard Linklater. Starring Gioovanni Ribisi, Amie Carey, Jayce Bartok, and Nicky Katt.

I grew up in the suburban Midwest and, hoooo, did I find this a claustrophobic familiar watch. Teens and college-aged people everywhere have their own existential crises, but there IS something distinct about small-town coming-of-age crises, where it's so easy to see your life just stretching in front of you as a neverending sea of... blah. Some of these characters tried and failed to get out and now feel even more stuck, some tried and succeeded, and some haven't tried yet so they still feel hopeful about their chances. Richard Linklater is a great director choice for this text, because he has such a great sense for directing dialogue that is a lot deeper than it seems on the surface. It hit hard enough for me to make it a difficult watch, but I would still recommend it. There's a lot in here to unpack, and it's probably worth it.

How it entered my Flickchart:
SubUrbia > Letters from Iwo Jima
SubUrbia < Chronicle
SubUrbia > I, Tonya
SubUrbia > M
SubUrbia > RoboCop
SubUrbia > Wonder Boys
SubUrbia > Hawking
SubUrbia > Oliver Twist (1948)
SubUrbia < Barton Fink
SubUrbia < Miss Saigon: 25th Anniversary
SubUrbia < The Road Warrior
SubUrbia > Match Point
Final spot: #825 out of 3256, or 75%.

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