Tape (2001)

Three old high school friends meet in a Michigan motel room to dissect painful memories from their past.

Director:

Richard Linklater

Writers:

Stephen Belber (screenplay), Stephen Belber (play)

Stars:

Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, Uma Thurman

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ethan Hawke	...	Vin
Robert Sean Leonard	...	Jon
Uma Thurman	...	Amy

Storyline

Twenty-eight year olds Jon and Vince, friends from high school, meet in Vince's seedy motel room in Lansing, Michigan. Jon had invited Vince to town from his current residence of Oakland to help celebrate the fact of his latest movie, independently shot, having a screening at the local film festival the following day, the first public screening of one of his movies. While Jon seems to have grown up in having this career path and a nice room in an upscale hotel provided by the festival, Vince, who, in preparing for the evening has already had a few beer by the time Jon arrives, hasn't, he who deals drugs for a living with no change on the horizon, and his girlfriend, who was supposed to accompany him to Lansing, having broken up with him, indirectly because of his immaturity. This divergence quickly becomes an issue of contention between the two. But as Vince's behavior is seemingly more and more substance affected, he having broken out the weed and coke, his intention with Jon may be ...

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Plot Keywords:

single set production | single location | high school | motel | filmmaker | 

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Taglines:

Some things can't be erased

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and drug content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 July 2002 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

Amargo Reencontro

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$28,424, 4 November 2001, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$490,475, 16 December 2001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Detour Filmproduction,IFC Productions,InDigEnt (Independent Digital Entertainment)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Robert Sean Leonard and Ethan Hawke both played in Dead Poets Society as classmates and best friends.

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Goofs

Vince changes positions in bed during the "why are you lecturing me" dialogue.

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Quotes

Amy: I have a boyfriend.
Vince: Who is he?
Amy: He's the District Attorney.
Vince: Oh, God. That is so typical.
Amy: Typical. Why?
Vince: It just is.

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Crazy Credits

The end credits move across the screen in the motions of tape inside a playing cassette.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Overlooked Gems from Well-Know Directors (2015)

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Soundtracks

I'm Sorry
Performed by Brenda Lee
Written by Ronnie Self and Dub Allbritten
Published by Universal Champion Music
Courtesy of MCA Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises
[Played during end credits]

User Reviews

this movie left me cold

This movie comes from a seasoned director who, in the same year, nonetheless, shot another movie which i would consider the best film of 2001. This one, also shot on digital cameras takes place in a dingy hotel room and contains a cast of, count 'em, 1,2, THREE people, who are never seen outside of the context of the dingy motel room. So, don't expect for the scene to change. This film, based on a play, strives on realism, hence no orchestral score, no unnecessary settings or extra characters, just three fantastic actors dealing with issues. One (Hawke) is a volunteer firefighter/ drug dealer who likes to, ahem, get excessively high off his own supply. Another is his high school buddy,a budding young director whose film is being screen in the Lansing, Michigan Film festival, whose apparent maturity and superiority over his drug-binging pal and confidente is deceptive. The final character, who arrives 2/3 of the way through the movie is a former high school crush/ associate district attorney with significantly surrogate emotional ties to both of the men.

The riveting conversations that evolve from somewhat sneeringly nostalgic to downright inhospitable fluidly move the film more actively than any number of action-packed popcorn flicks out there. In fact, you'll have no trouble getting over the fact that you're just watching 3 people talking in a room for 2 hours (I'll admit that that was a little intimidating at first). The film successfully lures us in with that inherent voyeurism that brought those first moviegoers into the transformed vaudeville theaters. As a passive observer, we become immersed in exactly that which should be none of our business, just like Hawke's character pulls himself into a situation that is none of his business. By the end, no clear resolution is reached and as compelling and intriguing as it all was, we feel guilty for looking through the peephole.