A Look at Why Richard Linklater is an Unassuming Auteur

Scene from Everybody Wants Some!!

In the modern era, is there anyone quite as inventive with cinema as director Richard Linklater? True, he doesn't have the most stylish eye nor does he usually come up with groundbreaking twists. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't know him for anything but Dazed and Confused or School of Rock (depending on your age). However, what he has done with film over the past five years is a phenomenal mixture of experimentation and reflective of an artist in total control. With his latest Everybody Wants Some!!, he tackles the 80's with a "spiritual sequel" to his 1993 breakout high school film Dazed and Confused. If nothing else, the reviews will suggest that he continues his hot streak for a little longer. 

It does seem strange to even think of Linklater as an auteur of any sorts. He doesn't have anything distinguishable about him. The most authentic thing about him tends to be his use of stories set in real time, such as the case with his trilogy made up of Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight. He lets the actors do a lot of the noticeable work, often just letting the camera film whatever lays before it. While he has experimented a bit with style in films like A Scanner Darkly and Waking Life, he tends to not be the most striking voice in the 90's independent film movement's biggest names. Still, one would be hard pressed to ignore his value to the community that has made a resurgence following his occasional studio film throughout the 00's.

It could all tie back to his striking debut Slacker, which doesn't really have a plot so much as an atmosphere. It's a film where dozens of characters trade off screen time while discussing events relevant to Texas youth. There's no central voice and Linklater even opens the film with as close to a concept as the film gets in which one conversation bleeds into the next. While it definitely pales in comparison to his later film, its choice to be anti-plot definitely inspired everything to come. It also inspired another indie voice in Kevin Smith, who claims Slacker as a big influence for making Clerks. Still, the thing that is more impressive is that in spite of having little conventional style, the film ends up being engrossing.

Even his follow-up, Dazed and Confused, feels like his most conventional and accessible work. Following the last day of high school, the film focuses on a wide group of people as they attend a party. Along with his following film Before Sunrise, he continued to explore time by limiting his story to a day. As it turns out, a lot can happen in that time, and Linklater lets the characters express their inner conflicts. It is also a film that brought about Matthew McConaughey and has the distinct honor of having an ensemble made up of almost everyone who would rule cinema in the next decade. By this point, Linklater wasn't just making anti-plot movies. He was working with people who could carry that story. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy would up the ante even further as the only two central characters of his next film.

So what exactly makes him one of the most inventive voices in cinema then? Despite having no authentic style, he is distinguishable. There are countless indie films to have come out that focus around one day or have little aesthetic. There was even a movement called mumblecore that took inaction to an extreme. With exception to maybe Joe Swanberg, there aren't many directors who make the low key attitudes into a career choice quite as well. Even then, Linklater doesn't just stop at telling stories in one day or have his characters play out scenes in rambling, spontaneous moments. He secretly has a gift for character. While his best work tends to be based around his home state of Texas, he has made trips to around the globe into fascinating explorations that include conversations on philosophy and the simple things in life. Before Midnight remains one of his greatest achievements for its ability to depict the third act of a relationship in a raw and honest manner without ever feeling saccharine. 

Of course, the odd thing is that there was a period where Linklater wasn't even doing this on a traditional sense. He was doing studio films for most of the 00's that included traditional comedies like School of Rock and Bad News Bears as well as biopics like Me and Orson Welles. While none of these are totally maligned, they don't reflect the artist at his best. In fact, it is arguable that the most distinct film that he made in this time was Before Sunset, which earned Delpy and Hawke their first (of two for the series) Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Even then, part of the charm of that film was that nobody expected it to come out, much like the third part Before Midnight eight years later.

If anything, that is the key to Linklater and his current resurgence. Nobody is really sure what he's going to do next. It all started in 2011 with Bernie: a black comedy in which Jack Black murders Shirley MacLaine and based largely in the Christopher Guest style of mockumentary. Everything that followed would only be more and more surprising and further cementing his status as the unassuming auteur from Texas. Before Midnight was the unexpected sequel in a trilogy that was actually considered the best in the series. Not bad considering that it came out 16 years after the first. 

What is arguable is that Boyhood will be considered his defining masterpiece. Even if he's honestly done better, it embodies his ability to play with time and narrative in a far more intriguing way over the course of three hours. Considering that it was also filmed over 12 years, it is possibly the most realized depiction of 00's culture that has ever been seen. It's an inventive technique that thankfully paid off. Yet why did it? It is here where you understand the general appeal of Linklater, whose work has always played with the concept of time, but isn't always apparent when considering his limitations to single days.

Boyhood is a film that highlights the passage of time in the subtle ways. Instead of going for the stock cliches, he highlights the moments that mean the most to the characters. It's endearing to watch Ellar Coltrane grow up from a child to young adult. There's even growth in the parental figures. Everything about the film embodies why Linklater works. The most integral piece is that he never answers questions. We're never sure where Coltrane is in his life, nor what year it is, save for a few signifiers. We're in the moment, experiencing what matters to the character. While some moments, specifically in the third act, are heightened and dramatic, there's still a sense of authenticity to his work that you come away with. 

In the end, that's possibly why Linklater remains such a noteworthy face in independent cinema. Even if Everybody Wants Some!! feels like one of his attempts at "conventional" cinema, it is likely to embody the humanity and moments better than any actual story. While it may be a critique that keeps him from being more universally appealing to mainstream audiences, he still has played with time and the anti-plot movement in ways that are entertaining. It also helps that his unconventional trajectory means that every project is practically unexpected. I can only hope this continues and that whatever his career ends up being by the end, we accept his ingenuity and learn from it. Nobody can likely ever match Linklater's impact to the story format, but we can at least try by moving away from the familiar.