Tape (2001)

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Directed by Richard Linklater.

Starring Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, Uma Thurman.

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In the same year that filmmaker Richard Linklater explored the possibilities of image manipulation in digital filmmaking with Waking Life, he also embraced the new medium's potential for creating intimate character portraits under confined circumstances with this feature, based on the play by Stephen Belber. Johnny (Robert Sean Leonard) is a 30-year-old filmmaker who is enjoying a recent run of success and has returned to his old hometown of Lansing, MI, to show his latest project at a film festival. While in town, Johnny pays a visit to Vince (Ethan Hawke), an old friend from high school who is staying in a nearby hotel. Vince has never had a knack for responsibility and these days scrapes together a living as a low-level drug dealer. Johnny and Vince discuss their lives, with Johnny more than a bit judgmental about Vince's current situation, when the conversation turns to Amy (Uma Thurman), a girl who was Vince's girlfriend through much of high school and who Johnny dated for a brief spell afterward. Johnny confesses that he hasn't thought about Amy in ages, but Vince informs him that she's living nearby, then begins firing a series of increasingly pointed questions at him about his relationship with Amy, concluding with the shocking accusation that Johnny once raped Amy at a party. Like Waking Life, Tape was entirely shot using digital video equipment, and director Linklater remained true to the story's origins as a stage play, using only three actors and one set for the entire film. Both Tape and Waking Life premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Re:Recasting smaller productions
by jbooza in Filmgaming

hasn't rated it.

"[quote user="Risselada"] You know what else might be fun is recasting a movie within the actors in the movie. Like seeing if you switch around all of the actors into different roles. Actually it would be boring to just speculate. I think it would be interesting if you could actually see the results though. That's why I actually find this group kind of boring. But if someone has the money to fund a project to actually film a recast production, I'd take more interest. Actually I'd be more interested in just hiring a new director and letting them cast whoever they want. [/quote] Then you can switch around the cast of smaller productions like the ones mentioned above. Tape, would be another good example. " [More]

Buggin
by quint in An inordinate number of peppers

liked it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Like many people, I thought Bug was a horror movie, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't. Instead, this is an intriguing psychological study of the illusions we'll endure for the promise of love. The movie that comes to mind is Richard Linklater's Tape. It is perhaps just the off-Broadway feel. Night of the Living Dead has a similar economy. Ashley Judd is excellent, but the movie's main flaw is with her character. There is not enough to convince me of her desperation. Sure, she is a white trash woman with a lot to regret, but her endurance is what I am most convinced of. Harry Connick, Jr. is more Tony Franciosa than ever. He is a wicked thug. Michael Shannon is a pleasant surprise.After the set up, the movie changes character significantly, but never quite outlives it's pretenses. Craziness kicks into high gear out of the blue. Harry Connick's character falls by the wayside. The climax has to come because all sympathy is blasted from the character ... " [More]

Re: Waking Life: An animated Ph ...
by Risselada in Philosophy of Film

hasn't rated it.

"Those darn prepositions. It's easy to get hung up on them.I think it would be easier to criticize a movie like this if it seemed to carry more pretense. Richard Linklater has said that the construction of the movie is just ideas and scenes that he either could never find ways to fit into other films or were meant for other films but never made the final cut. It's a hodge podge script-wise, and it's that way stylistically. Almost every scene was animated by a different artist. It's really just a series of short films that are loosely connected. Luckily the plot that connects them is just as mysterious and ethereal in a way. This is as opposed to some other films like Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2 which seemed like a bunch of stylistically different short films but were often forced too hard into a more tangible narrative. Or if you look at theme as opposed to style, it's opposed to the Matrix movies, especially Reloaded and Revolutions which tried ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

is neutral about it.

Of the two 2001 releases churned out as director Richard Linklater became drunk on the possibilities of digital video, Tape is by far the more unassuming -- filmed plays are sort of a staple for maverick directors -- but the movie's use of inexpensive technology to bring resolutely uncommercial material to the big screen is in many ways as exciting as Waking Life's revolutionary rotoscoped animation. (Both films appeared at the 2001 Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals before their fall theatrical releases.) Stephen Belber's one-act source material may, at first, have the air of a hot-button graduate thesis project committed to film, but Linklater and his trio of performers find ways of envigorating the material without resorting to actorly grandstanding and trumped-up technique. As the script invites the audience's loyalty to shift from person to person, Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, and Uma Thurman all manage to generate some degree of sympathy even as the plot rightfully keeps them at arm's length; they're all identifiable human beings, thanks to Linklater's deft, improvisational method. The director at times seems a little too enamored with his newfound ability to over-shoot a scene -- the quick cutting, multiple angles, and whip pans grow a little tiring towards the end. Still, by lending Tape a vitality and athleticism it might not have had on celluloid, Linklater's use of digital video proves to be not just a financial necessity but an artistic one. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Tags: real-time , confrontation , confronting-demons , classmates , discomfort
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