No./ 15 Take all the time you need!
WHEN RICHARD LINKLATER’S latest film was announced, a few sceptical eyebrows were raised. The filmmaker, who famously took 12 years to make , will now spend a full two decades making , an adaptation, or make-up and prosthetics at hand... what’s the point? But this surely misunderstands the artist. Watch any of Richard Linklater’s films, from to the trilogy, and you will understand why he is not interested in CGI. This is not a filmmaker accustomed to green-screens and dots on faces. He is a student of filmmakers like Eric Rohmer and Robert Bresson, minimalist directors who emphasised realism over flashy genre stylings, and took their time with long, lingering dialogue between characters. Even in his more visually experimental films like or , he keeps the foundation of a kind of cinéma vérité throughout. allowed him to tell an enduring story with this philosophy. It was, really, the first coming-of-age film that actually showed its characters quite literally come of age. Even with the advances in technology, audiences recognise the difference.
