Slacker - The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray) (Import)

Slacker, directed by Richard Linklater, presents a day in the life of a loose-knit Austin, Texas, subculture populated by eccentric and overeducated young people. Shooting on 16 mm for a mere $23,000, writer-producer-director Linklater and his crew of friends threw out any idea of a traditional plot, choosing instead to create a tapestry of over a hundred characters, each as compelling as the last. Slacker is a prescient look at an emerging generation of aggressive nonparticipants, and one of the key films of the American independent film movement of the 1990s. DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New, restored high-definition digital film transfer, supervised by director Richard Linklater and director of photo­graphy Lee Daniel, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack Three audio commentaries, featuring Linklater and members of the cast and crew It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1988), Linklater’s first full-length feature, with commentary by the director Woodshock, a 1985 16 mm short by Linklater and Daniel Casting tapes featuring select “auditions” from the more-than-100-member cast Deleted scenes and alternate takes Footage from the Slacker tenth-anniversary reunion Early film treatment Home movies Ten-minute trailer for a 2005 documentary about the landmark Austin café Les Amis Original theatrical trailer English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: An essay by author and film­maker John Pierson, an introduction to It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books by director Monte Hellman, an essay by Michael Barker, reviews by critics Ron Rosenbaum and Chris Walters, and production notes by Linklater New cover by Marc English