A Scanner Darkly

[Ghostboy]

I'm sure whoever does the music will be badass.

It's Golden Arm Trio.

[matt35mm]

badass.

[matt35mm]

EARLY REVIEW OF A SCANNER DARKLY (from a test screening with temp music)

http://www.moviesonline.ca/movie_review_detail.php?id=1272

By "The Dude"

So, I come home right after seeing Kong, and I'm checking the email, when what do I see but an invitation to an early screening of Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly.  Hells yes, I am going. I am an unabashed Richard Linklater fan, and I was curious as hell to see how he'd adapt Philip K Dick's futuristic tale of drugs and the men responsible for maintaining the law with these drugs. I knew Linklater was doing it in the same animated rotoscoping form he used with Waking Life, which intrigued me even more. I could not wait to see this movie, and a chance to see it, even if it's not completely finished yet, was something I would not pass up on.

And I'm glad I didn't. A Scanner Darkly delivers. At least, it delivered up to my expectations. They may be very high expectations, though, I realize. It is a dense movie, that is not going to be easy to understand in one viewing. Even I'm not 100% sure about what happened. (Not as bad as with Syriana, though).

Here's the basic story: In the near future (eight years or so, if I remember correctly), in Orange County, California, there is a substance that is sweeping the area called Substance D. Undercover narcotics agent FRED is trying to infiltrate the confidence of a dealer named Bob Arctor. Bob Arctor is a dealer as well as a user of the D. He lives in a crazy home, sharing space with users Barris (Robert Downey Jr) and Luckman (Woody Harrelson). He casually dates coke whore Donna (Winona Ryder), and is occasionally visited by Freck (Rory Cochrane), who is so deep into the use of D, he constatnly sees aphids that aren't there, as well as other things. Oh, and Arctor is so heavy into the D himself, that he doesn't realize that he's also Fred, the agent pursuing him.

That's not really giving anything away. If you pick up a copy of the book, it tells you that right on the back. Fred's brain has split into two battling hemispheres that are constantly playing tricks on him. He's not exactly sure what is real, and what we witness is his degradation through this world. Paranoia sets in, big time. I won;t tell you where the story ends up, but it is definitely not what you'd expect. Thankfully, it's also not a mindless ending, or an ending that's changed to entice masses, like most of Dick's work.

Now, the film looks gorgeous. As I mentioned, it's the rotoscope process used in Waking Life, where the action was shot with the live actors on digital video, and then animators painstakingly draw over every frame into this crazy stylized hyper real world.  Some found that to be irritating in Waking Life, but I enjoyed it. It was something new and exciting visually. A Scanner Darkly ups the ante, because the animation remains, for the most part, consistent, as opposed to different styles throughout Waking Life. The important thing is, it looks great. An important plot device is a suit that constantly changes it's appearances, so as if to blend into a crowd with hundreds of different parts flashing. I can't describe it, and if this movie were done live action, it would look impossibly fake. But here, it works with the environments, and it's awesome to see.

The scanner referred to in the title are the surveillance devices installed to spy on citizens. the same scanner Fred uses to watch Bob Arctor and his insane friends' ramblings and paranoid delusions. These scenes are highly animated, from both visual look, and from the actors within.

The acting works perfectly, by the way. Keanu does confused well. But he looks badass, and is quite fitting. Downey and Harrelson steal the show with incredibly animated characters. Who never shut up. There's a scene where Downey creates a silencer for his pistol that has to be seen. He's really good in this. Reminds me of Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys. (More on that later). And he and Harrelson act off each other wonderfully. Winona Ryder is good as well. (Funny to note how all these actors have been associated with drugs and trouble making throughout their careers, and here they all are turning in outstanding work). And Rory Cochrane, who you might remember from Linklater's Dazed and Confused as the stoner Slater ("check ya later"), is awesome as Freck. He's far too gone to make any kind of sense, who are usually the people who make the most amount of sense at the end. But he has this fantastic scene where, well, I'm not gonna say how he got there, but i will tell you it ends with a thousand eyed alien reading a list of his sins. It's gotta be seen to be believed. But he pulls it off well.

Linklater has worked wonders. You can tell he really wanted to tell this story in a visual way. And the ending of the big is kind of hard to pull off, but he managed to do it. Kudos. But there's never a doubt in my mind that he's in charge, and showing u what we need to see. It's very exciting filmmaking.

Since it was a test screening, I realize that it might change when it's released theatrically. I hope it doesn't. (Although, I would like to hear a new Radiohead score, if that rumor turns out to be true. The temp score had some good Radiohead Kid A and beyond songs scattered throughout, and that worked nicely, but an all new score would kick an obscene amount of ass). It's a tough movie to understand, and I definitely want to see it again, but I feel that general audiences would probably not appreciate it all too much. I realize that sounds kind of elitist, but I have a feeling that most people won't like it. I am not one of those people, and I loved this movie.

I actually ran into Linklater after the screening. This was kind of a trip for me (as I was still disoriented after the movie), but I managed to get myself together, shake his hand, and express what a fan I am, and how cool it was to meet him. We spoke a little about the movie, and he seemed kind of nervous about the test screening process. I agreed with him, and felt that marketing this will be a very hard sell. And it will be a hard sell, but I know this movie has a fair amount of movie lovers looking forward to it. I tell you, it's worth it. In hindsight, I should have asked him if I could buy him a beer after the whole studio process was done with, but I barely held it together as is. If he reads this, Mr. Linklater, I'm a huge fan, I loved the movie, and if you're ever back in town, I'll buy you that beer.

(Also, in hindsight, I should have asked him about the Radiohead score rumor, but still, it was an honor to meet one of my heroes/role models).

On the sheet of paper they made me fill out after viewing the movie, it asked "does this movie remind you of any other movies?" I totally drew a blank while responding, but I had some time to think about it, and I came up with two. 12 Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I realize they're both Terry Gilliam films, and this movie is as close to Gilliam as Linklater will get.  It has that aura of paranoia, wrapped around drugs, filled with crazy performances, topped with damn fine visuals. They're same in tone, mostly. If you like interesting films, then I can't recommend this movie enough. When it comes out in March, I suggest you go see it opening weekend, or the very first chance you get. Unique, challenging, and a feast for the eyes, this is a movie for your brain.

[modage]

[squints]

That review and that trailer have me officially:

[noyes]

wow.

[matt35mm]

I was under the impression that this film was being released in March, and I don't know if anything was posted about it, but it's been pushed back again.  These are the current release dates:

July 7, 2006 (NY, LA, SF, Seattle, Boston; wider release: July 14; moderate release: July 28)

Bummer.

[killafilm]

If any movie that I'm looking forward to should be released on Bestille Day it should Marie-Antoinette and not A Scanner Darkly.  Just sayin.

[Sunrise]

July 7 it is...and this is a nice article on the production and reasons for the delays. Sounds like things got pretty heated during the animation process.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.03/scanner.html?pg=1&topic=scanner&topic_set=

[MacGuffin]

NYCC '06: A Scanner Darkly--the First 30 Minutes
Comic-Con attendees are treated to a sneak peek at the upcoming Philip K. Dick adaptation.

Go to enough comic book conventions and you are likely to see a cool sneak peek or two. The surprise of today's New York Comic-Con came from Warner Independent Pictures, who decided to showcase the first thirty minutes of the futuristic A Scanner Darkly to a crowd of lucky show-goers.

Audiences recently got a better idea of what the Richard Linklater film is about when the long form trailer hit the Internet a few weeks back, but the extended viewing we got at the con afforded us a closer look at the amazing interpolated rotoscope animation style and shed light on more of the story elements.

For those who have not yet heard of the project, A Scanner Darkly is based on the sci-fi novel by Hollywood favorite Philip K. Dick, whose works have been adapted into Minority Report, Blade Runner and Total Recall. This is perhaps the most faithful of a Dick story yet, and its rights were acquired at a discount because the filmmakers promised to remain true to the tale's original intent.

Set seven years in the future, the government is losing the war on drugs, and a quarter of the population has fallen prey to a drug known as Substance D. "Either you're on it, or you haven't tried it," remarks Robert Downey Jr.'s character early in the film.

The story tracks an undercover cop and his relationship with his friends, several of whom are mixed up in the mire of drugs. Every relationship and transaction is tracked by the government with advanced surveillance equipment, and only a single powerful corporation goes unchecked. That is the basic outline of what goes on… If you want to fully preserve the sanctity of the viewing experience, you may want to stop reading here, as we are about to delve deeper into the first 30 minutes, and as such, MILD SPOILERS FOLLOW.

In the thirty minutes we saw, the most overwhelming feeling the movie creates is a sense of crushing paranoia. The animation oozes and slinks around, casting an eerie sheen on the proceedings. The film opens with a crazy-making drug sequence where one of the (allegedly) addicted characters claws at his body, feeling he is being attacked by giant aphids. That scene sets the tone for the claustrophobic and desperate film, but what ices the sense of paranoia is the technology known as a "scramble suit," a sort of camouflage which cycles through millions of random body parts, completely obscuring its wearer. The film invites us inside the suit, where we see the world from the perspective of the main character, played by sci-fi vet Keanu Reeves.

Upping the paranoia ante further is the Big Brother approach to "scanning." The society portrayed employs an almost 1:1 ratio of watchers to citizens, and complete surveillance of everyone's movements. One sequence shows the central network of tracking systems as they hone in on multiple targets, finally settling on their intended victim, who is merely walking down the street. The information collection is apparent in every scene, with distorted views, record light indicators, security camera angles and recorded audio effects tipping off the spying. The ultimate payoff of this attention to the omnipresent nature of civilian surveillance is a sense of repression and dread.

These science-fiction elements really lend themselves to the animated style, which is created by a program that is a proprietary blend of Flash and Illustrator. Linklater used almost the same technology to make his philosophical ponder-fest Waking Life. Tweaks have been made to the software, including a warp function to provide depth of field, lending Darkly much more dimension than Waking Life enjoyed.

From the first glimpse, the performances seem solid and nuanced, and it's easy to see why actors would want to be associated with this production. Robert Downey Jr. especially stands out as a neurotic, shifty and hilarious schemer. Overall, the film is much funnier than it comes across in the trailer, and the paranoia is played as much for laughs as thrills.

If the rest of the film is as intriguing and affecting as the first thirty minutes, audiences should be in for a mind-blowing head-trip into the future.

[squints]

i think i might be seeing this tonight

[RegularKarate]

This will be quick because I'm on my way to my next volunteer shift, but I saw this yesterday.

They told us that it wasn't totally finished, but it seems that the only two things that aren't finished are the soundmix and score.

I'm a huge fan of the book so I have to say that this movie was a little disapointing, but I really want to see it again.  The problem that I had with it was that a lot of it the scenes were just kind of bland reenactments from the book with more updated dialogue (so they say "dude" instead of "man") so it ended up kind of dragging in spots.  On the other hand some of the scenes were really great.

The animation:  for the most part, the animation added a real dreamlike quality to it, but a lot of the time, it looked like the animated bits were kind of transparent, like I could see through to the video... this might just because the tracking and the colors were so accurate, but it kind of took me out of it.

I thought it was interesting that the temp score had a lot of radiohead.  There was a song during the end credits that I didn't recognize... I think it was saying "it's fucked up... it's fucked up"... anyone know of an rh song that repeats that a few times?

okay, gotta go

[squints]

i was impressed. i haven't read the book so there were a few (a lot actually) times where i was confused but at least there was something perdy to look at. woody harrelson and robert downey jr. were hilarious, the radiohead was nice and i have such a desire to read the book now. i can't wait to see it again...

[MacGuffin]

'A Scanner Darkly'
Richard Linklater is drawn to the story, not fitting a genre.
Source: Los Angeles Times



Richard LINKLATER doesn't consider himself an auteur because he doesn't know "what the standard is. The truth is everyone has a feeling out there who is making personal films and who isn't. I think it is one of those [terms that is] completely undefinable."

Since the release of his well-received first theatrical film, 1991's plotless comedy "Slacker," the Austin-based filmmaker has tackled the western genre ("The Newton Boys"), romantic dramas ("Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset"), an experimental drama ("Tape") and even animation ("Waking Life"). Linklater has also made two excursions into the major studio world — directing the 2003 hit comedy "School of Rock" and the poorly received 2005 remake of "The Bad News Bears."
 
"Some people are kind of genre busters," he says. "I never thought of myself like that. There are certain stories you want to tell. When I was doing 'Before Sunrise' I never thought, 'I am in the genre of romantic comedy.' I was more like 'I am telling the story of these two people.' It is never genre first."

Linklater's latest film, "A Scanner Darkly," slated to open July 7, is a surreal psychological thriller. Based on the Philip K. Dick novel, "Scanner" is set in Anaheim in the not-so-distant future where an increasing number of the population is addicted to a drug called Substance D.

Keanu Reeves plays an undercover cop assigned to spy on his Substance D-abusing friends. Just as with "Waking Life," the movie was filmed as a live-action feature and then animated through a time-consuming but relatively inexpensive rotoscoping technique — each frame of the live-action film is traced over and painted in to give it the look of a graphic novel. (The movie cost a reported $8 million to make.)

"I always saw the movie [animated]," says Linklater, 45. "I thought the effect of this animation put the viewer in the right head space to take in this movie."

Linklater wrote the script years ago but had delays getting it off the ground. "There was the thinking that 'Adults don't go to animated movies and we should do it live action.' " The problem with that, Linklater said, is that the subject matter doesn't warrant the $20 million to $30 million that a live-action movie would probably cost.

"It is a low-budget counterculture film," he said.

[MacGuffin]

Scanner Darkly Trailer Remix Contest

Finally, a Help Us Advertise Our Movie contest that doesn't totally suck!

RES, Microsoft, Warner Brothers, and Jumpcut are co-sponsoring a contest to remix the trailer of Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly, due in theaters (finally) July 7. The remix site offers the current trailer for download, and asks entrants to create a variation that runs between one and three minutes, using both the downloaded footage and any new footage created specifically for the contest. What makes it cool, however, are the prizes. Instead of the "We might use your poster in a few small towns if we really like it and you'll feel important" rewards that tend to come with these fan-participation contests, the winner of this one gets some pretty awesome stuff: In addition to a trip to the US premiere (including airfare and hotel, thanks very much), the lucky remixer also takes home "a Microsoft Windows 64-bit powered professional video editing workstation with Adobe Production Studio Premium." There are also some runner-up prizes on offer, as well as an audience award for a trailer chosen by website visitors.

If you're interested, go download the goods: http://scanner.res.com/

All entries must be uploaded by June 7.