My wife and I always have this conversation about Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused. She asks me why I love it so much, and maybe because there’s just to much to love about it, can never come up with an a answer. My response these days has been, “Well why do you love the Twilight movies?” End of debate.

The film takes place at the end of the school year with groups of kids from seniors to freshman, to even a creepy lurker played by Matthew McConaughey hitting parties, taking beatings, and getting high. While there are story arcs involved in the film, Dazed and Confused is really nothing other then capturing the free spirit of youth, be it raging against authority or your own expectations of what the future holds, looking to have a good time and fitting into the social structure of your peer group, or discovering yourself in the face of many facets of life that you encounter over the period of one night. It can be a reminisce at the things gone by for some and a peek at what the future may bring for others. In any case it’s a timeless little piece of film history that I love and can watch repeatedly without ever growing tired of it.

QUALITY:
This had me worried a bit as the film first started out. The picture seemed to be soft, colors drab, clarity a bit blurry. I’m not sure why the film begins this way but as it rolled on the film snaps into place to give it an overall good look. Mind you not a lot of the film is filmed in wide out shots, where I tend to see most of the trouble area’s in older films being transferred to Blu-Ray format. You get a lot of close knit shots of people in cars, lined up against the wall smoking and having conversations, and the likes. I find that the closer the camera gets the better the picture becomes. That’s a given here, though some scenes are surprisingly good. For example when the seniors catch one of Carl’s buddies after they leave the rec center. The scene is night and black levels are so beautifully rich and deep not a bit of grain interrupts the scene or at Mitch’s baseball game. It is a fantastic transfer but I’m betting the Criterion Blu-Ray release coming up soon will be better. Audio shines superb on this release. Immersion, crisp clear and aggressive dialogue, a showcase for the films great soundtrack. This is how it should be done.

BONUS FEATURES:
~Deleted Scenes: I’d say most of these were cut because they would have ruined the free and fun mood of the film, taking it out of a youthful perspective and into a more adult setting. For example the first deleted scene features Pink, Slater, and Benny cruising around when they see some Asian women crossing the road. The conversation quickly turns into a commentary on war.
~The Blunt Truth - Side Splitting Filmstrip On The Dangers of Partying: it’s a satirical propaganda video about pot. Pretty funny.
~Retro Public Service Announcements: VD and Pollution are the topics.
~BD Live
~Pocket Blu App