Linklater had another disappointing Hollywood outing with The Newton Boys and once again responded by doubling down on his own vision with Tape, a single room, in real-time, and Waking Life, a story taking place entirely in a dream. The latter pioneered a fresh rotoscoping technique that gave the entire picture an otherworldly fluidity. There are reminders of Slacker’s wide cast of idiosyncratic characters, but here the various viewpoints feel like vaguely remembered snippets. We even visit a sketch of Jesse and Celine, as though the dreamer had been watching Before Sunrise as they drifted off.

Although Linklater went on to have some iconic mainstream successes (School of Rock leaps to mind), he arguably made his biggest splash with his most ambitious, and undeniably most Linklater project. Twelve years in the making, Boyhood follows a single life from childhood to college. It zeroes in on the little formative moments; the crashes that reverberate across a lifespan. Linklater would return to the same actors each year, documenting the development on screen to create a modern filmmaking triumph every bit deserving of its numerous awards.

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