The new film from US indie master Richard Linklater – his first since 2013’s critically adored Boyhood – is a riotous, perceptive and acutely funny step back into 1980s college dorm life.
It’s been billed by Linklater himself as a “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused, which focused on teenagers celebrating the last day of high school. This time he follows a group of rowdy young freshmen as they enjoy their first weekend of college: partying hard, enduring painful initiation rites and trying to meet girls; navigating their way through the freedoms and responsibilities of unsupervised adulthood.
Dazed and Confused made stars out of its then relatively unknown cast and the loose, naturalistic performances from his equally obscure actors here – Tyler Hoechlin, Zoey Deutch, Ryan Guzman, Blake Jenner and Glen Powell – looks set to do the same. It’s a blissfully enjoyable watch from a confident, expressive and ever-thoughtful filmmaker at the height of his abilities.
