‘Roaring 20’s’ Manages Little More Than a Purr, Failing to Stitch Together Anthology Set-Pieces Into Something More [Tribeca Review]
Narrative-averse portmanteau films are a tough nut to crack, yet not impossible. Richard Linklater made a name for himself in 1990 by hovering over a collection of Austin 20-somethings doing nothing in particular with “Slacker,” and it is this template that director Laurent Rochette seems to be following with her newest feature, “Roaring 20’s.” Yet where “Slacker” and others like it (“Coffee and Cigarettes” or even Linklater’s other stab at the genre, “Waking Life”) stitch their characters and segments together with common themes and recurring motifs, “Roaring 20’s” fails to connect its many dots, binding itself instead with a cinematography gimmick and little else.