SUBURBIA (1997) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1997 Ted Prigge
Director: Richard Linklater Writer: Eric Bogosian Starring: Giovanni Ribissi, Steve Zahn, Amie Carey, Nicky Katt, Jayce Bartok, Parker Posey, Dina Spybey, Ajay Naidu, Samia Shoaib
Richard Linklater's fourth film, following "Slacker," "Dazed and Confused," and "Before Sunrise," is much like his previous efforts - they all depict slackers in a lovable fashion, allowing them to talk; all take place within a day (mostly night); and all are good. However, "subUrbia" takes a whole new stance on the whole slacker-brand idealism - it's just a waste of life.
The characters in this film hang out at the Cicle-A gas station, the place where people fuel up and then go on with their lives. Here, these guys are stuck at the gas station, just hovering around, wasting time and talking about all the things they're gonna do with their lives occasionally. Of course, that's all they do is talk, but never act on them unless they absolutely have to. Linklater has always viewed these guys as idealistic in that bad way, but he has never presented it in this kind of honest and dark fashion.
The pretty-much-understood protagonist is Jeff (Giovanni Ribissi, the first drummer in "That Thing You Do!" who broke his arm), a clueless slacker who has no clue what he wants to do and feels content in the fact that he knows this. He is dating the multi-color-haired Sooze (Amy Carey), an also clueless future performance artist (who's bit "Burger Manifesto Part 1" is classic) who wants to move to New York, much to the dismay of Jeff, but is pretty much set in just saying "I'll get there someday."
There's also Sooze's best bud, Bee Bee (Dina Spybey, on "Men Behaving Badly" now), who has just gotten out of rehab, but is totally shaky and feels isolated from everybody. She gets some consolation from Jeff and from Buff (Steve Zahn, also from "That Thing You Do!," but in a much bigger role), a hyperkinetic jokester who seems to be eternally drunk and on a combination of hash and speed, causing him to always be attracting attention.
Then there's Tim (Nicky Katt, one of the slain rednecks in "A Time to Kill"). Tim was in the Air Force but was honorably discharged so he can work on his alcoholism and nihilation. He's the creepiest and most dangerous of them all because he presents the fact that the American dream is dead and becomes the big annoyance for everyone by sadistically preying on every single character's insecurities.
As far as the American Dream goes, it's represented by two Pakistanis who own the Circle-A (the first time I've seen a Pakistani owning American property in a non-comical role). They are the married young couple, Nazeer and Pakeesa (Ajay Naidu and Samia Shoaib, respectively), and Ajay has two years left before he has completed his engineering degree. He represents how people can further themselves, but is held up for contrast to the slackers who do nothing with their lives but bitch and complain and talk about how they're Americans and are somehow owed something. Ajay also utters the devastating words that wrap up the film at the end.
There is no real plot, just talking, which just orchestrates that these people have nothing to do but talk. The only kind of narrativeness comes in the form of a guy named Pony (Jayce Bartok), who was their friend back in the day but became a big rock-star. He's not presented as a jerk or anything, but as a guy who has actually taken the time to work hard and, for some odd reason, wants to just lay back and do nothing for a night. He's rather clueless himself - at one point he meanders about a subject, just as an excuse to have them tell him to play his music. He whines about how his life is hard and how it's turned into just "Hotel, concert, airport," and etc, etc, whatever and ever amen.
Some things happen, couples become rearranged in the spirit of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and in the end, they're all viewed as a bunch of losers who need to be given a shot of motivation or self worth. The suburbia of the title refers to a kind of enclosed prison where they don't have to care about anything, but always have a quick-e-mart of some kind to hang out at and do nothing.
The film is wonderfully acted, with standouts by Ribissi, Zahn, and Katt. But the whole cast works wonderfully. We even get Parker Posey (who's been in, like, 30 films in 3 years) as Pony's journalist or something who's just along for the ride so she can get laid, no matter what slacker it is. The cast has a lot to say, and they all give the dialogue in the most human manner and all play off eachother wonderfully. I haven't seen large-group chemistry like this since..."Dazed and Confused."
The writing is also very well done. Eric Bosogian has a knack for writing great dialogue, dialogue that is speakable and fun to listen to. There's a ton of great lines and jokes, and all the characters are cleverly constructed. But some of the lines are very satirical and don't seem like a normal person would say them. But this isn't reality anyway. It's a surreal kind of landscape of nihilism and self-destruction.
While Bogosian paints his characters as all being schmucks (except for the two Pakistanis), Linklater presents them in a loveable vein, causing them to kind of mirror us. It's some of us on the screen, but we would only say some of the stuff if we're really being honest. It somehow works.
And Linklater always seems to find the perfect everything for a scene. The whole film doesn't take place at the Circle-A; it ventures out everywhere in the bleak suburbia. The mood and tone are dark and foreboding, like you know something bad is going to happen. He carefully constucts everything, almost making it like stalled time for the characters to waste their lives. It's never boring, kind of like listening to Spalding Gray talk, but more satirical (yet just as rewarding).
"subUrbia" is a very fantastically done film that not only proves that Rick Linklater is one of the finest young American directors, but also that we idealistic slackers who think if we think long enough, we'll suddenly come out kosher dill are all just wasting our lives.
MY RATING (out of 5): ****
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