Throughout his career, Richard Linklater has aptly portrayed the passions, confusion, and fears of young adults in his movies. Likely to be overshadowed by the release of WAKING LIFE, his attempt to merge real life with animation, TAPE holds its own as a dialogue-driven narrative adapted from Stephen Belber’s play.

TAPE is Linklater’s foray into the dubious past of three high school friends. Vince (Hawke) comes into town to see his best friend, Johnny’s (Leonard) first film premiering in the local film festival. The film takes place entirely in Vince’s hotel room. The two friends are polar opposites. Vince is a washed-up drug dealer, and Johnny is an ambitious, confident filmmaker. While catching up, Vince brings up Amy, the girl who dated them both in high school. Probing his friend, Vince’s questions focus on a singular sexual encounter between Johnny and Amy. As tones heatedly rise, the confines of the room seem excruciatingly small and tortuous. Linklater smartly uses his space (or lack there of) to produce anxiety in his audience. Tensions continue to mount when Amy arrives at the hotel room upon Vince’s invitation. The past comes back to haunt the trio of friends and new light shines on their seemingly clear-cut characters.

In the new wave of digital filmmaking, Linklater adds TAPE to the collection. The grainy reality of the film highlights its shocking character discoveries. TAPE is financed by Independent Digital Entertainment, or InDigEnt, which is dedicated to a stronger partnership between the filmmaker and the production company. Financed by the Independent Film Channel, InDigEnt has set out to produce 10 low-budget digital feature films where the entire filmmaking team shares 50 percent of all revenue generated from the first dollar.

For those who love intricate dialogues and barbed exchanges, TAPE doles out a heavy portion. Linklater crafts three-dimensional characters who interact in their spatial confines to produce a thoughtful and edgy film.

—Jennifer Prestigiacomo

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