Typical Linklater
An absolutely rambling and illogical mess. Characters appear and vanish randomly, and there's no through-line to the narrative.
Erik Kristopher Myers
Writer/Director -- ROULETTE
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3138460/
Which characters vanish randomly? Those who are not seen again like Ethan Hawke and Kris Kristofferson relay the information they need to in their scenes and are not needed anywhere else. The story is told through the eyes of several characters which I imagine is quite hard to put together on screen but I wouldn't call it and illogical mess by any means.
shareMaybe "illogical" isn't the right word. But "mess" certainly is.
There's no through-line at all. The entire film rambles in circles.
And characters vanish for long periods of time. Kinnear, for example.
Erik Kristopher Myers
Writer/Director -- ROULETTE
www.imdb.com/name/nm3138460/
Sorry to come back at you again but I don't understand your point. The stories of each group of people follow a pretty straight forward narrative, sure the stories are fragmented but that's the nature of the film (numerous stories going on at once)
When does Kinnears character vanish for a long period of time?
Halfway through the movie. He leaves the hotel, we time-skip "Two months later" and we don't see him again until the end credits scene. Given that we've just had a scene with him and Bruce Willis's character making accusations about the Mickey's boss being "on his way out", you would think that the movie would pick up where it left off and have him actually report to the board about the standards at the meat packing plant, but instead the focus is entirely shifted to the Mexican immigrants on one hand and Amber and her group on the other.
In the end, it felt like Kinnear's character was in the movie so that Linklater and Schlosser could say "Look, there's fecal matter in the burgers; it gets in like this!" and stand there grinning smugly at the audience. There's no payoff to his storyline.
I think the point is that Kinnear's character cannot do anything about the problem. Listen to what Bruce Willis says after Kinnear says he will report it. The whole corporation is corrupt. When he left the hotel he was totally dejected as he realized there was nothing he could do about the problem and that is the point of his story I feel.
"Our critique began as all critiques begin: with doubt"
The point I was trying to make had nothing to do with interweaving storylines. The point was that the stories do not in any way work together or compliment one another. It feels as though there are several movies going on at once, none of which have an ending, and none of which contribute anything to one another. It's about as focused as Slacker.
Erik Kristopher Myers
Writer/Director -- ROULETTE
www.imdb.com/name/nm3138460/
I agree with everything you say about this film, but I don't think this is "Typical Linklater."
"Slacker" was about random individuals occupying their time "off the grid" in the '90s, so the lack of focus there is understandable. I find most of his other films very focused, especially "A Scanner Darkly," "School of Rock" and "Before Sunset/Sunrise." His films tend to focus on characters more than plot, but they usually leave me with a clear understanding of the players and their destines. Not this one.
"Fast Food Nation" starts with a weak premise (would Greg Kinnear's character really be so unaware of the meatpacking practices?), then produces some compelling threads (Kris Kristofferson's and Bruce Willis' in particular) before devolving into a soap opera and finally a manipulative gorefest. This is a very disappointing film, but I don't think it's typical at all of most of Linklater's work. In fact, I didn't find out until halfway through that he directed it, and I was very surprised.
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