Sub Urbia
Directed by Richard Linklater
Castle Rock Entertainment
Opens on October 23
Review by Marina Cameron
This latest film by Richard Linklater (Slacker, Dazed and Confused), based on the play of the same name by Eric Bogosian, is another snapshot of young life in the US — and a disturbing one at that.
To the bleak backdrop of the endless car parks and mowed lawns of Burnfield, the film traverses one night and a new morning amongst a group of suburban 20-year-olds hanging out at "the corner" — the local all-night convenience store.
Each character provides a different angle on the problems of "middle-class" youth in the suburbs — searching for meaning, nihilism or self-destruction.
Buff (Steve Zahn) is your average immature, sexist, racist pizza hand refusing to grow up. Tim (Nicky Katt) is a cynical airforce drop-out, doomed to drink himself silly as his only means of escape. Bee-Bee (Dina Spybey) is the one with the drug problem.
Pony (Jayce Bartok) is the successful rock star who escaped from Burnfield, but without finding any happiness in the smarmy world of rock. Erica (Parker Posey) is Pony's publicist, an uptight rich girl from out of town, and no less unsure of herself.
Nazeer (Ajay Naidu) and Pakeeza (Samia Shoaib) are the Pakistani couple who own the store. Despite their hard work and knowing where they are going, they are still tormented by racism and the tedium of their lives.
Jeff (Giovanni Ribisi) and Sooze (Amie Carey) provide perhaps the most interesting interplay of characters. Sooze is the optimist, trying to find a way of commenting on the world constructively through (quite bad) performance art. She pleads for some "idealism" — which Jeff labels as "guilty middle class bullshit".
Jeff is a college drop-out, who is scathing of Sooze's naivete, but provides no better solution than revelling in his own alienation. He doesn't try to avoid the world or escape from reality, but feels powerless to change it.
The only hope is that each in their own way is trying to become a "better person" in adverse circumstances.
With an original soundtrack score by Sonic Youth and a real-life feel, this is a quick-moving and enthralling film. However, it does leave one feeling like everything is going around in circles with no way out.
Bogosian says of the film's message: "This was our parents' dream, but we end up hanging at the mall, the fast-food joints, drinking and driving with nothing to do. If it's the American Dream, why does it feel so fucked up?" Good question, and one which the film doesn't really answer.