Utterly brilliant in every way.
Set in the world of 1980s college life, this film follows a freshman's first weekend of college, experiencing a fraternity-like lifestyle with his hard-partying teammates as they navigate their way through the freedoms and responsibilities of unsupervised adulthood.
This is an insightful look at life in its most primitive form, there’s no real plot - its merely a sequence of events over someone’s first 3 days at college. There’s a countdown clock in the first scene letting viewers know the leading character’s first class is in 3days and 15hrs. We see a selection of wild, crazy and daring events that take place in that time - but more interestingly some events are just the mundane. This interestingly documents the ups and downs of life. The script and direction (Richard Linklater) is brilliant, the comedy superb, the drama even better. Linklater has a knack for writing brilliant characters and there is certainly Oscar worthy material here.
Set in the 70s many 1970s cinematic effects are used to great effect. Also the soundtrack of 70s hits is the cherry on top. The cast are great, Blake Jenner, Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell shine brightest, but the whole cast offers strong performances.
Overall one of the best indie films of 2016. A must watch.
4.5 Stars
Review by Benjamin Maio Mackay
Screening courtesy of Palace Nova Cinemas
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