Rivaling American Graffiti in capturing the essence of an era, Linklater’s reverie about the last day of high school in 1976 consists of episodic teenage escapades set against a booming rock-and-roll soundtrack. “I wanted to make a film that captured the energy of what I remember: driving around, not much happening but everything happening at once,” says Linklater (Sight and Sound). As smooth as a rhapsody, the film includes freshman efforts by Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, and Joey Lauren Adams, and the superb Matthew McConaughey as the lecherous graduate hanger-on with this raison d’être: “You just gotta keep on livin’, man. L-I-V-I-N.” 1993, 35mm, 103 minutes.
