Dazed and Confused

Dazed and Confused is a 1993 movie written and directed by Richard Linklater with a large ensemble cast, many of whom share the spotlight.

The movie tells the stories of the last day of school in 1976 at a small town in Texas. The camera dips in and out of the lives of a variety of students at the school, rather than focussing on a single individual - in a manner reminiscent of, but less extreme than, Linklater's earlier film Slacker.

The film paid considerable attention to period and locational detail, (mostly) the cars and music of the time, the soundtrack featuring rock staples of the era. It also occasionally featured a sense of melancholy, of having "missed out" by a few years on the cataclysmic events of the late 1960's.

The film's lack of apparent structure, and undemonized depiction of marijuana use, have associated it with "stoner" culture somewhat. It should be noted that the film's biggest user of marijuana is portrayed as having the world pass him by whilst everyone else gets on with their lives.