Synopsis
A day in the life of Rick Linklater, taking in a conference call with some young studio executives and a session with a psychologist.
Another Day at the Office
2019 ‘Une journée au bureau’ Directed by Richard Linklater
Director
Producers
Writer
Editor
Cinematography
Sound
Studio
Countries
Language
Alternative Titles
Où en êtes-vous, Richard Linklater?, Where Are You, Richard Linklater?, Une journée au bureau / Où en êtes-vous, Richard Linklater ?
Genre
Releases by Date
Premiere
-
France
Releases by Country
France
25 Nov 2019
- Premiere
Popular reviews
More-
“I’m never gonna get another film made. My recent movies haven’t made any money, and I’m gonna spend the rest of my life almost in production.”
Richard Linklater makes a great Richard Linklater character. Very fun to see him stripped back to a student film level of budget and ambition at this stage of his career; most of the actors here aside from the man himself are pretty weak, and a lot of these characters feel like straw men, but as his own little 20-minute microbudget 8 1/2, this is nice! -
Old school Linklater at its finest while on a shoe-string student film budget. Weaker supporting actors aside, this self-reflection piece screams art bro philosophy in a way so charming that only a filmmaker this experienced (and zen) could achieve. Those weird little conversations (a cinematic exercise that effectively captures the core themes in all his films) in Slacker that would carry over to Waking Life? Clearly paying off now, since he can make a short with little to no resources that’s just as riveting as his best work. Linklater knows how good of an on screen performer he actually is, which is why his breakout movie opens with him doing an art bro breakdown of his dreams (akin to Tarantino…
-
I love Rick, he’s on my Mount Rushmore of filmmakers, and I cannot believe I just found out about this.
-
I didn’t even know this existed until I saw it on Letterboxd, but it’s apparently an answer to the question “Where do you stand today?”, asked by a museum that displayed an exhibit on Linklater’s work.
So here’s where he stands: pushing back on studio executives trying to tweak his work, having existential crisis about his career and the state of the world, and reflecting on his past in therapy.
I liked this as a humorous look into Linklater’s headspace. I really just like listening to this man talk.
-
-
-
I used to think the arts were, like, some kind of calling, but now I think maybe it’s just the right therapies for the right conditions, you know?
Those children should let the genius man hang out with his goats in peace!
-
-
“We just want to strategically eliminate doubt and… questions. And… that’s where we’re coming from.”
I’m pretty sure Richard Linklater just diagnosed me with ADHD, something I’ve long suspected but never been tested for. He also made me cry and feel like everything will be okay.
-
Really, really enjoyed this.
I could care less about how minimalist this short is in regard to camera and acting, but what I do care about was what he was saying. I found that even though this may have been scripted out the wazoo, the things Linklater was saying, the mannerisms and movements he possessed, were things I had felt myself. I felt this innate connection to what he was saying, his point of view on all the vast subject material he covered, and it surprised me. It sort of snuck up on me, ‘till it was as if I was in therapy with him. There’s nothing else like that feeling and I really enjoyed that.
P.S. I’m not…
-
I really like the self-reflective Linklater of this and Apollo 10 1/2, watching him piece together in real time what led him to be the artist he is.
-
I actually loved this. This is old-school, super-philosophical, no-plot-at-all Linklater, only this time he turns the camera around on himself, and the results are fascinating.
Some really interesting musings on the state of the film industry (and of the US in general), as well, and weirdly, this might be the most cynical (and thus "gen X") of all of Linklater's films. It would have been easy for this short to devolve into the "old man yells at cloud" ramblings of an aging curmudgeon, but then Linklater gets self-reflective and reveals some truths about himself that frame this whole short -- and his entire philosophy -- in a different context.
I would absolutely watch a feature-length version of something like this. Perhaps a rotoscoped sequel to Waking Life? Are you listening, Rick?
