i watched this in my 20s and didn't get it. i found it boring, dozing off in spurts. i liked some scenes but it just didn't do anything for me.

watched it again in my late 30s and it hit me right in the face. the setting, atmosphere, just perfect. you're dropped in this dusty town that offers no one any future whatsoever. your programming (kids singing the fight song, football team using your youth and then forgetting all about you once you've graduated) tells you not to worry about your future, but then once school is done, this town and its people offer you little else and does not care about you because they've already used you up. this theme of youth set against the older generation is a theme throughout. you frequently hear wind in the background, further solidifying what a decrepit town and bleak future this place holds, and how it keeps people around, even as they so desperately want to go. this town is a trap, and the only person who held it together is gone.

a beautiful film that needs to be seen when you're past your youth in order to appreciate it, i think.