Slacker - Criterion Collection (Blu-ray)

Slacker, directed by Richard Linklater, presents a day in the life of a loose-knit Austin, Texas, subculture populated by eccentric and overeducated young people. Shooting on 16 mm for a mere $23,000, writer-producer-director 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. Slacker is 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.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Restored high-definition digital film transfer, supervised by director Richard Linklater and director of photography Lee Daniel, with 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 feature, with commentary by the director
• Woodshock (1985), a 16 mm short by Linklater and Daniel
• Casting tapes featuring select “auditions”
• 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
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: a booklet featuring essays by author and filmmaker John Pierson and Sony Pictures Classics copresident Michael Barker; reviews by critics Ron Rosenbaum and Chris Walters; production notes by Linklater; and an introduction to It’s Impossible to Plow by Reading Books by director Monte Hellman