TAPE

Year: 2001
USA: Lions Gate Films
UK: Metrodome
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, Uma Thurman
Director: Richard Linklater
Country: USA
USA & UK: 86 mins
USA Rated: R for language and drug content
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language, sexual references and drug use
USA Release Date: 2 November 2001 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 12 July 2002

Synopsis

Richard Linklater directs this three-character ensemble piece set within the confines of a tawdry motor lodge in Lansing, Michigan. After 10 years apart, three disparate people come together to play out the unresolved drama of their final days in high school.

Directed by Richard Linklater and based on the stage play of the same title by Stephen Belber, TAPE is an intriguing exploration of how an event, and it's recollection, still plays an active role between two high school friends when they meet up ten years after graduation. John, a first-time filmmaker, finds himself in Lansing, Michigan to present his film at a local film festival. Vince, his high school friend who is now a volunteer fireman and small-time drug dealer, also visits the town to support John on his big day, or so it seems. After a raucous hello and much backslapping, it appears that there is an undercurrent of tension in the air.

As the conversation degenerates into verbal sparring, it becomes clear that Vince has spent the last decade nursing his resentment over the fact that John more-or-less stole his girlfriend Amy at the end of their senior year. Though he points out that they've had this discussion numerous times over the years since graduation, John again admits that he's not proud of how things worked out at that time, but counsels Vince to move on with his life just as he has. Unsatisfied with John's answers to his persistent questioning, Vince cajoles John into divulging a dark secret, kept hidden these 10 long years - and the tape he has just made of their conversation becomes the catalyst to a battle of sharp witted wills. Then Amy arrives...

DVD EXTRAS

DVD-5
16 x 9 anamorphic widescreen
Dolby Digital 2.0 English
Special features: Theatrical trailer
Feature Running Time: 83 minutes