Tag: 1990s

Film by Jessica Schneider
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A shot from Richard Linklater's classic 1990s film, "SubUrbia," as reviewed by Jessica Schneider thirty years later.

1990s Eternal Ennui: Reviewing Richard Linklater’s “SubUrbia” (1996)

There was something unusual about American culture in the 1990s. For one, this was the final generation privy to the ‘safety bubble’—a time before 9/11, before the Internet became a necessity rather than a luxury, and before the world lived on their phones. As someone who underwent her teens and early 20s throughout this time, I can say there was a sense of ‘living in the present’ that is unlike today. (After all, in summer one is only alive at night.)

This was a time that gently evoked the 1960s and ‘70s, where poetry was ‘popular’ (slam, Allen Ginsberg, and the Confessionals), young women were having memoirs published about their depressions, women song writers were being taken seriously, and with that there was this sense of ‘possibility’, at least among those who were white, middle-class, and living in the suburbs. So much is possible at 3 a.m. in a Denny’s. But there was also this idea of invincibility—that this Blockbuster Rental on every corner era would always be, so one need not aim for change. Films like Ben Stiller’s Reality Bites (1994) and Kevin Smith’s Mallrats (1995) touch upon this, but nowhere else is this eternal ennui seen better than in Richard Linklater’s SubUrbia. […]

Film by Ezekiel Yu
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Unassigned Emotions: On Nancy Savoca’s “Dogfight” (1991)

It’s November 1963. Among a group of Marines staying in San Francisco briefly before being shipped off to Asia, there is a contest: pick up the least attractive girl you can find, take them to a bar they’ve all rented out for the night, and a cash prize will be handed to the guy who brings the ugliest one. It’s called a “Dogfight”—the women being the “dogs,” if you haven’t guessed—and one of them, Corporal Eddie Birdlace (River Phoenix), is shit out of luck finding a date.

That is, until he meets Rose (Lili Taylor), a wannabe folk songstress who waits tables at a café owned by her mother. Birdlace fakes his way through a conversation about music in order to ensnare her, and she is shyly charmed. It is obvious how unaccustomed she is to the attentions of men, especially cute, seemingly confident young men like Birdlace.

After some wooing, and an initial refusal, Rose accepts his proposition. She prepares herself, albeit inelegantly, and there’s a humorous little moment when Birdlace first sees her evening get-up, and he almost can’t believe his good fortune. […]