Blu-ray Release: Slacker

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Sept. 17, 2013
Price: Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion

The 1991 independent comedy Slacker, directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused), presents a day in the life of a loose-knit Austin, Texas, subculture populated by eccentric and over-educated young people.

Shooting his second feature on 16 mm for a mere $3,000, writer/director/producer 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.

Two decades-plus on, Slacker remains 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.

Criterion issued Slacker on DVD back in 2004 and the new Blu-ray edition ports over many of the bonus features from that release.

Here’s the complete list of features on the Blu-ray:

• High-definition restored digital film transfer, supervised by director Richard Linklater and director of photography Lee Daniel, featuring 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
• 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
• Deleted scenes and alternate takes
• Original theatrical trailer
• A booklet featuring essays by author and film­maker John Pierson and Michael Barker, as well as reviews, production notes, and an introduction to It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books by director Monte Hellman

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