Director Richard Linklater has released another gem to add to the list of films that have made him the eclectic filmmaker he is today. Fast Food Nation, which accompanied Linklater's other film this year( A Scanner Darkly ) at the Cannes Film Festival is a very dialog driven film geared towards a realization or self-awareness geared primarily towards the American population. Also, a warning towards less westernized communities, Fast Food Nation puts the reality of modernization and personality loss into a very potent formula on-screen. The film centers on a large corporation that delivers fast-food quality at a fast-food price across the country. To mirror companies such as McDonalds, Wendy's, or Taco Bell, was the point of Fast Food Nation, and it does more as a film than Super Size Me did as a documentary.
Linklater has a very diverse palette to take from, much like Steven Soderbergh, whereas they can both do intellectual independent films, and then turn around and still make an enjoyable film with a higher budget. Linklater followed up his more mainstream films School of Rock and Bad News Bears, with this thought provoking , eye opening docudrama. As the film tries to open our eyes and ears to the screaming of today's youth it also speaks loudly about immigration, and the border patrol at the U.S. - Mexico border. This seems to be a trend this year, after the issue was covered in Babel, and in The Three Burials of Melquiadas Estrada.
It's frightening to see the chemicals the fast food companies pour into their foods, and the hormones and literal waste the meat packaging companies use and overlook while feeding the public. There are many gruesome scenes towards the end of the film, that might seem unnecessary to some, but are a clear message that needs to be told and seen. Fast Food Nation is a satirical, yet overtly realistic look at the capitalistic society we live in today. This bleak look at middle-America does shed some hope that there will be a better youth, and that through revolution something optimal will erupt. There are many gruesome scenes towards the end of the film, that might seem unnecessary to some, but are a clear message that needs to be told and seen. Fast Food Nation is a satirical, yet overtly realistic look at the capitalistic society we live in today. This bleak look at middle-America does shed some hope that there will be a better youth, and that through revolution something optimal will erupt.
Linklater has a very diverse palette to take from, much like Steven Soderbergh, whereas they can both do intellectual independent films, and then turn around and still make an enjoyable film with a higher budget. Linklater followed up his more mainstream films School of Rock and Bad News Bears, with this thought provoking , eye opening docudrama. As the film tries to open our eyes and ears to the screaming of today's youth it also speaks loudly about immigration, and the border patrol at the U.S. - Mexico border. This seems to be a trend this year, after the issue was covered in Babel, and in The Three Burials of Melquiadas Estrada.
It's frightening to see the chemicals the fast food companies pour into their foods, and the hormones and literal waste the meat packaging companies use and overlook while feeding the public. There are many gruesome scenes towards the end of the film, that might seem unnecessary to some, but are a clear message that needs to be told and seen. Fast Food Nation is a satirical, yet overtly realistic look at the capitalistic society we live in today. This bleak look at middle-America does shed some hope that there will be a better youth, and that through revolution something optimal will erupt. There are many gruesome scenes towards the end of the film, that might seem unnecessary to some, but are a clear message that needs to be told and seen. Fast Food Nation is a satirical, yet overtly realistic look at the capitalistic society we live in today. This bleak look at middle-America does shed some hope that there will be a better youth, and that through revolution something optimal will erupt.