It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books

It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books

It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books

Share

It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books

1988

1h 25m

5.4(29 votes)

Drama

Overview

A nameless young man travels the country by bus and train, visiting friends and making new ones, having banal conversations, and dedicating his existence to mundane activities.

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

Detour Filmproduction

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater

Daniel Johnston

Daniel Johnston

James Goodwin

Dan Kratochvil

Linda Finney

Tracy Crabtree

Linda Levine

Lisa Schiebold

Erin McAfee

D. Montgomery

Creative team

Directed by: Richard Linklater
Written by: Richard Linklater
Produced by: Richard Linklater

Similar Movies

Welcome To September

Welcome To September

Drew McCullough, a lonely young Irishman, sells carpet for a living. One night, he is transfixed by the image of a beautiful, exotic woman in a painting. Suddenly, she steps out of the painting and into his arms. For an instant, they are locked in a passionate, soul-churning kiss and then she's gone. Is she real or has he just lost his mind? He's going to find out no matter what the cost. And it costs him dearly. In his obsessive search to find her, his life is turned upside down. In the end, Welcome to September is a quirky story about fantasy, reality, obsession and love, and how all of these things are just different sides of the same coin.

Lying

Lying

A long weekend brings four women together in the countryside. Virtual strangers, the women are forced to navigate the depths of social interaction. On the surface all seems placid. But the atmosphere of calm is a facade.

Squeeze

Squeeze

Ty, Hector, and Bao are close friends in a tough section of Boston, where they're called "the PG-13 crew." They're 14, decent kids with few skills who've bailed out of school. A small gang of older tough guys, led by Marcus and Tommy, menace them, and when the PG-13s fight back and rob one of the gang, Marcus and Tommy vow to kill them. They seek protection from Derick, a drug dealer, who agrees to help if they'll sell drugs. Meanwhile, Ty is recruited to work at a community center by J.J., its quiet leader. Ty and his friends are in a squeeze: surrounded by violence, drugs, and no opportunities, is there any way out?

Dangerous Game

Dangerous Game

A New York film director, working on his latest movie in Los Angeles, begins to reflect the actions in his movie and real life, especially when he begins an affair with the lead actress.

The Garage

A mechanic at his father's garage during the late 1970s, Matt dreams about leaving his small town existence and pursuing grander ambitions. But strong feelings for a new girlfriend and deep family ties may prevent Matt's ultimate escape, despite pressure from best friend Schultz to take off immediately. Coming-of-age story in a small town.

Camp Cucamonga

Camp Cucamonga

Standard camp shenanigans and romance amongst the counselors and the campers at a lake front summer camp.

Chinese Coffee

Chinese Coffee

When Harry Levine, an aging, unsuccessful Greenwich Village writer, is fired from his job as restaurant doorman, he calls on friend and mentor Jake, ostensibly to collect a long-standing debt.

Release

Release

A prison story. Father Jack finds love with a male guard in the prison. Some of the other inmates suspect he's been sentenced for paedophilia.

Locked Down

Locked Down

Danny, a respected cop, is setup after an investigation goes wrong. While laying low in his new jail cell, Danny is forced to get involved in the inmates underground cage fighting circuit. With the help of Irving, a former mixed martial arts champion, Danny devises a scheme to bring justice and innocence to his family's name, if he can get out of the cage alive.

Broken Fences

Broken Fences

Joe, a rancher in the mountains of Colorado, has his life of solitude interrupted when his luckless son gets paroled from prison and moves back in with him, bringing his ill-fated ways along.

Heartland

Heartland

Widowed Elinor Randall and her young daughter Jerrine arrive in a barren stretch of Wyoming in 1910 after Elinor's application for work as a housekeeper is accepted by Clyde Stewart, a rancher. The work is back-breaking and the isolation is brutal, particularly as winter arrives. Elinor begins to think about homesteading her own property near Stewart's ranch, but Stewart tries to dissuade her with explanations about the killing conditions and poor rewards, especially for a woman with no man to help her ranch. Although their temperaments are different and little affection exists, Elinor and Stewart agree to marry and combine homesteads. What lies ahead is the severest test of all.

Older Than America

Older Than America

The truth of the past come to light in a series of haunting visions in this drama. The strange visions grow more vivid with each passing day, a young woman of Native American heritage begins piecing together a Catholic priests diabolical plot to prevent her mother from revealing the atrocities that unfolded at a Native Indian boarding school.

You Wont Miss Me

You Wont Miss Me

A kaleidoscopic film portrait of Shelly Brown, a twenty-three year-old alienated urban misfit recently released from a psychiatric hospital.

The Strong Arm

The Strong Arm

Agileo, a government employee, is commissioned to build a road in a town. At first, he suffers the hostility of the locals, but a letter from the government makes them believe that he is an influential character and they begin to treat him well, to the degree that he becomes the local cacique.

Dominick and Eugene

Dominick and Eugene

Dominick and Eugene are twins, but Dominick is a little bit slow due do an accident in his youth. They live together, with Dominick working as garbage man to put Eugene through medical school. Their relationship becomes strained when Eugene must decide between his devotion to his brother, or his need to go away to complete his training. Things are also not helped by Dominick's co-worker, or Eugene's budding romance.

Stuck!

Stuck!

Beautiful young Daisy feels stuck working as a shopgirl by day and caring for her ailing mother by night. A suicide gone wrong leaves Daisy wrongly imprisoned, while the neighbor whose testimony put her away struggles with guilt. A tongue-in-cheek homage to 1950s women-in-prison films.

Exhibit A

Exhibit A

Exhibit A tells the timely story of a normal family disintegrating under financial pressure. All is not as it seems as the King family go about their day-to-day lives oblivious of the horror to come. Dad Andy (Bradley Cole) is nursing a secret that ultimately leads to terrible consequences for them all. We witness these chilling events unfold through daughter Judith's video camera, which subsequently becomes Exhibit A.

Carrington

Carrington

Painter Dora Carrington develops an intimate but extremely complex bond with writer Lytton Strachey. Though Lytton is a homosexual, he is enchanted by the mysterious Dora and they begin a lifelong friendship that has strangely romantic undertones. Eventually, Lytton and Dora decide to live together, despite the fact that the latter has fallen in love with military man Ralph Partridge, whom she plans to marry.

Middletown

Middletown

Having spent most of his life in religious instruction, Gabriel returns to his hometown as its new preacher. The town is full of drinkers and gamblers, including Jim and Caroline, his younger brother and sister-in-law. Gabriel believes he must save the townspeople, especially Jim and Caroline and their unborn child. In the battle to save their souls, some amazing revelations take place.

Life of the Party

Life of the Party

A group of friends plan an intervention to help their pal address his drinking problem. Things go awry when the shrink they hired fails to show up

Recommended Movies

The Last Bus

The Last Bus

Widower Tom, on the recent passing of his wife Mary, uses his free bus pass to travel the length of Britain from John O'Groats in Caithness to Land's End in Cornwall, their shared birthplace, using only local buses. It's an incident-fuelled nostalgia trip and his encounters with local people make him a media phenomenon. Tom is totally unaware and to his surprise on arrival at Land’s End he’s greeted as a celebrity.

All Together Now

All Together Now

An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?

Vanya on 42nd Street

Vanya on 42nd Street

An uninterrupted rehearsal of Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' plays out by a company of actors. The setting: their run-down theater with an unusable stage and crumbling ceiling. The play is shown act by act with the briefest of breaks to move props or for refreshments. The lack of costumes, real props and scenery is soon forgotten.

Eleanor the Great

Eleanor the Great

94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.

The Truth About Emanuel

The Truth About Emanuel

A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.

Inside I'm Dancing

Inside I'm Dancing

Michael is a 24-year-old who has cerebral palsy and long-term resident of the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled, run by the formidable Eileen. His life is transformed when the maverick Rory O'Shea moves in.

Hungry Hearts

Hungry Hearts

The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.

Fast Girls

Fast Girls

A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.

Blue Chips

Blue Chips

Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team isn't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.

Adopt a Highway

Adopt a Highway

Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.

Jonathan

Jonathan

Jonathan is a young man with a strange condition that only his brother understands. But when he begins to yearn for a different life, their unique bond becomes increasingly tested.

Lady Driver

Lady Driver

When a rebellious teen embarks on a solo summer journey to connect with her roots, she finds herself in a new world, geared up for the ride of her life, and discovers she had the drive in her all along.

Seeds of Yesterday

Seeds of Yesterday

The Sheffield family reveal and go through some home truths as their middle child inherits the Foxworth mansion. The family's ghosts looming over, and more tragedies are in store as the curse lives on.

Poor Cow

Poor Cow

A young woman lives a life filled with bad choices. At a young age she marries and has a child--with an abusive thief who quickly ends up in prison. Left alone, she takes up with the guy's mate, another thief, who seems to give her some happiness but who also ends up locked up. She then takes up with a series of seedy types who offer nothing but momentary pleasure--if that.

A Question of Faith

A Question of Faith

When Tragedy Strikes three Families, their Destiny forces them on a coverging path and mercy as the challenges of their fate could also resurrect their beliefs

Where the Red Fern Grows

Where the Red Fern Grows

Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with "Old Dan" and "Little Ann."

Head Full of Honey

Head Full of Honey

A young girl tries to help her grandfather, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, navigate his increasing forgetfulness, and ends up going on a remarkable adventure with him.

Rancho Notorious

Rancho Notorious

A man in search of revenge infiltrates a ranch, hidden in an inhospitable region, where its owner, Altar Keane, gives shelter to outlaws fleeing from the law in exchange for a price.

The Browning Version

The Browning Version

Andrew Crocker-Harris is an embittered and disliked teacher of Greek and Latin at a British prep school. After nearly 20 years of service, he is being forced to retire for 'health reasons', and perhaps may not even be given a pension. The boys regard him as a Hitler, with some justification. His unfaithful wife Laura tries to hurt him in any way she can. Andrew must come to terms with his failed life and at least regain his own self-esteem.

The Shepherd

The Shepherd

On Christmas Eve, a fighter pilot on his way home becomes lost while flying over water and needs a miracle to land safely.