21 Years: Richard Linklater

The documentary follows Richard Linklater's first twenty-one years, starting from Slacker. The people speaking are actors and directors who have worked with him: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Matthew McConaughey, Jack Black, Zac Efron and more. The account moves film by film, taking up Dazed and Confused, Waking Life, School of Rock, Bernie and the Before trilogy one at a time. Animated sections are used in between. Michael Dunaway and Tara Wood wrote and directed it together. Boyhood had not yet been released while they were shooting, so in the documentary it is referred to only as the twelve-year project, a detail that gives the film a date of its own. The account is not critical; everyone praises Linklater, and the hard conditions of production or the films that did not work are barely discussed. Against that, it is good on what making independent films in Austin actually meant.