Regrettably this film confirmed me as, if not quite a Link-hater, then certainly not a Link-rater. :p

I like a Scanner Darkly. I like what he tries to with authentic dialogue, but it almost always underwhelms me - it's almost like improv.

Maybe it's a cultural thing, but 99% of his characters I'd choose to ignore in life or harbour visions of clubbing them to death. Agent Orange would have been too good for this campus!

Good you liked it. Well into the film I wondered why RL thought that anyone would care about his college days. It's a slice of life and authentic. Still I found it just "Dazed and Confused" Part 2. I myself could have fun with these people but from experience know they would have no part of me. Which is no problem. I can watch a film with characters I don't care for. Still I need some reason other than RL is a sensitive jock then becomes a sensitive filmmaker. He is in a position to make a film about his own nostalgia for his youth. That's was all it seemed to me.

@znexyish said:

He is in a position to make a film about his own nostalgia for his youth.

And I see no problem with doing that. If an artist makes something he has personal feelings for that's when something can be truly captured. As a viewer you can get a sense of that passion and it makes the film so much more involving. This film is just a slice of life, but it really transports you to that time and place. And yeah, I am also a major sucker for nostalgia.

But whether you like the film or not, the reason I big up the Linklater is because he's still making films that he wants to make and doing what he wants to do while most filmmakers are compromised in today's big studio culture.

I understand. He has has his thing going and it is unique and true to him. So good going for RL. Cinema needs guys like that. I do look forward to his stuff even if it might not appeal to me on a film by film basis.