8. Dazed and Confused
For some of us, the end of exams, and of this school year, marks the last time we’ll ever go to school. Whatever the future holds, it’s time to bid farewell to a place we may have loved – or loathed entirely. But, as Jason London’s character Pink says, “If I ever start referring to these as the best years of my life, remind me to kill myself.” Dazed And Confused chronicles the long, languid last day of the senior class of a 70s Texas high school – but of course, the film’s motley crew don’t care what lies ahead. Their concerns lie where countless cinematic teenagers’ concerns lie, and always will: getting drunk, getting high, and getting laid.
Unlike many high school movies of the era, which draw heavily on irritating stereotypes, Dazed’s characters are endlessly familiar, their interactions flitting from charming to cringey, just like, well, the people you know. Linklater has created a film that is eternally young, finely tuned, and undeniably American through and through. And sure, its plot is simple, occasionally meandering. But in its aimless wandering it becomes a perfect summer film, and perhaps one of the best ‘coming of age’ films ever made. It’s a dreamy, daze of a movie; warmth just radiates from it. Also Matthew McConaughey is there. He says the thing. You know. That.
Words by Lara Peters