Name: Retro Film Review: SubUrbia (1996)
Item: SubUrbia
Rating: 40
Author: @drax

(source: tmdb.org)

From the early 21st Century perspective 1990s America was probably the most awesome place to live - country that had not only established its global supremacy, but also managed to transform that supremacy into unprecedented prosperity for its population whose youth didn't have good reasons to worry about future, at least compared with their parents. But, if you watch some films made in that particular decade, you would hardly desire to put yourself into the shoes of 1990s American teenagers and youth. One of the films that painted bleak picture of American teen angst was SubUrbia, 1996 drama directed by John Linklater.

SubUrbia is based on the stage play by Eric Bogosian, one of America's most recognisable character actors (and who also wrote screenplay, although he doesn't appear in this film). The protagonists of this film, set in one of faceless Texan suburbs, are couple of men and women in late teens and early 20ies who spend all their time hanging at parking lots and in front of convenience stores and complain that their lives could have been better. Their boring routine is temporarily going to be broken by the arrival of Pony (played by Jayce Bartok), their old school friend who had made it big as rock musician. Pony feels some sort of nostalgia towards his neighbourhood but when he arrives, his old friends become aware how wasted their lives are. As the night progresses, the mere presence of Nazeer Chaldi (played by Ajay Naidu), Pakistani shop owner who doesn't like losers to hang out in front of his business, is fuelling gang's prejudices, frustrations and all that leads to violence.

Not many people remember SubUrbia and for the very same reasons they tend to ignore more frustrating aspects of being young. Most viewers don't like being reminded that they can waste their lives, even in such prosperous places like 1990s America. But the real reason why SubUrbia fails to connect to the audience is in Linklater's inability to convince viewers that they aren't watching stage play. The dialogue and characters look more like stereotypes than real people, and the whole subplot with MTV star, although plausible, is not very convincing. The acting in the film is great, especially in the case of Giovanni Ribisi, but the audience should do itself a favour by appraising his talents in different films. RATING: 4/10 (+)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on November 7th 2003)