A Scanner Darkly

[Gamblour.]

Dammit, why not a G5 or something?

[Redlum]

Dammit, why not a G5 or something?

RES, Microsoft, Warner Brothers, and Jumpcut are co-sponsoring a contest

edit: I feel like a bastard for doing a reply quote quote. Sorry Gamblour.

[Gamblour.]

haha no worries, that was a good point. but still....damn microsoft. Considering that I remember on the Waking Life dvd, the guy is using an Apple to rotoscope that film, Linklater has sold his soul to the almighty ollar!

[MacGuffin]

'A Scanner Darkly' Presents Drug State



Richard Linklater, you've landed lookers such as Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr. in your science fiction fantasy. What are you going to do now?

Paint over their pretty faces to make digital cartoon characters out of them, then put the actors through a hazy narcotic nightmare in which they ramble about in manic paranoia.

"A Scanner Darkly," which premiered Thursday at the Cannes Film Festival, is the bleak underbelly of director Linklater's teen-party romp "Dazed and Confused." Adapted from the novel by sci-fi master Philip K. Dick, who based the story partly on his own drug abuse, "A Scanner Darkly" is a talky, twisted hodgepodge of sobering ideas centered on people who are anything but sober.

Linklater ("School of Rock," "Slacker") created the film the same way he made his 2001 philosophical ramble "Waking Life," shooting the actors in live action then painting over them with shimmery digital animation.

The faces of Reeves, Ryder, Downey and co-star Woody Harrelson remain recognizable, yet the animation makes them appear as though they're wandering through a living, breathing comic book.

"I had one question for Mr. Linklater, and that was: If I chew up the scenery, can you just animate it back in later?" Downey joked.

Linklater said overlaying animation on the actors was simply a creative choice, the same as deciding whether to shoot in color or black and white.

"It felt like this was the best way to tell this particular story," Linklater said. "I think it looks cool, too. Kind of a graphic novel come to life."

"A Scanner Darkly" is set seven years in the future, when a new drug called Substance D has arrived on the scene and gradually turns its users from suspicion to fear to paranoia regarding everyone around them.

Reeves plays an undercover cop assigned to spy on the activities of his circle of associates, including Ryder, Downey, Harrelson and "Dazed and Confused" co-star Rory Cochrane.

Abusing Substance D to maintain his cover, Reeves' character loses himself in a schizoid personality disorder, a crisis that plays out externally in the cloak he and other undercover operatives wear to conceal their identities from one another by projecting ever-changing features on their faces.

The film is Linklater's second to screen at this year's Cannes festival, which ends Sunday. Linklater's consumer satire "Fast Food Nation" played in the festival's main competition, while "A Scanner Darkly" was in a secondary competition.

"A Scanner Darkly" debuts in U.S. theaters July 7, and "Fast Food Nation" opens next fall.

The reality-bending fiction of Dick, who died in 1982, has been frequently turned into films, including "Blade Runner," based on his novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", and the short-story adaptations "Minority Report," "Total Recall" (from a tale titled "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale") and "Paycheck."

[Just Withnail]

Jesus Christ, Linklater's turning into Stallone.

[Gamblour.]

And his arm is very tiny.

[Ghostboy]

I just got back from seeing this, and I think I agree completely with RK. It's intermittently brilliant, but it's got quite a bit of lag time. I think the main problem is that Linklater focuses on the comedy a bit too much, and not enough on the paranoid schizophrenic part (by the time Bob Arctor's narration starts coming in in the last third, it's a welcome dose of subjectivity). While Robert Downey jr. and Woody Harrelson are both hilarious, they steal way too much of the film, and Keanu sorta just disappears into the background in their scenes together.

I didn't have a problem with the animation; and while I think the movie is worth seeing regardless, those who are on the fence should go just to see the scramble suits. They're amazing - the effect in the trailers were incomplete, and I was blown away by how well they worked.

The Golden Arm Trio score was really nice, too.

[RegularKarate]

The Golden Arm Trio score was really nice, too.

The main reason I want to see it again.  I got no golden arm trio.

[modage]

saw this tonite and i'll agree with ghostboy and rk.  it was good, but it was like spending 2 hours over at your druggy friends house and it just wouldnt let up.  (maybe that makes it a success?)  i liked it though.  keanu and robert downey jr. were there, introduced the film and sat down and watched it with us which was surreal.  ethan hawke showed up too to watch the film, there were funny hellos to keanu and downey which feeds directly into the 'all famous people must know each other' myth.  linklater was on a delayed flight so he arrived at the end for the Q&A and he seems like a very cool guy, so i think i will try to cut him some more slack in the future.     got my Before Sunset and Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey signed so thats pretty awesome.

[samsong]

there is some lag time at the beginning (or somewhere around there) of the last third of the film that prevents me from going completely nuts over this movie.  what a great film!

[killafilm]

Totally great.  It really captures the spirit of the book.  I loved all of the stuff with the three male leads.  The 18 speed conversation was great.  The only things I can think of that would make it any better would be more time with Arctor and way more time at new path.  That lasted only like a second.  A def. must see.  Now someone bring on Valis.

[RegularKarate]

It really captures the spirit of the book. 

if you had someone who didn't understand the book rewrite it.

[matt35mm]

I've never read any Philip K. Dick because no other film really made me want to, so I cannot give any comment on the spirit of the book, which I will read.

Although at times difficult to sit through (or perhaps because of it), this is my favorite movie so far this year.  I will have to see it at least once more before I can fully say why, apart from my fascination with the way it made me feel.  It struck a particular chord--a complex one--with me.  I think that this is the kind of film where a lot of people will come out saying what they would have changed about it and how it could be done better, but it was that specific recipe of rough edges and frustrating demands and weight that spilled out once in a while from a structure and style that could hardly contain it that really worked for me.  All the things that made my head ache, and even some of the mundane-ness of it all that will keep most people from saying that it was wholly mindblowing, I felt was apt... and suspect was deliberate.

I also suspect that I'll be thinking about this film for days, and will have to see it again soon.  Even just thinking about it a little more while writing this, I'm coming to appreciate it more.  I think it's an important film for all that it is and isn't.  Again, I'll need to see it again before I can detail why.  This little review has been all from my initial gut-feeling.  I wholly recommend it, though, of course.

[JG]

Good review Matt.  This is one of the best of the year.  I haven't read any Dick novels either, and I was a little confused about the plot, but i don't feel like you need to get all the plot points to enjoy a movie.  and this movie is pretty great.  it will undoubtedly garner cult-classic status with the college crowd, but this one actually deserves it.   Its hard for me to explain what I liked about it until I see it again, but, like you said, there's this tiny part in me that just knows this one will stick with me for a while.   its a drug movie, yes, but its so much more.  every performance is wonderful, but i didnt love the movie for its performances.  right now i just remember certain moments or sequences and perfectly surreal images:  the whole sequence with Freck and the radio, the closing moments, the skanner darkly monologue.  there's a lot going on in this movie and i'm currently only able to scratch at the surface.

expect a more formal review once i get to watch it again, i just felt compelled to second matt's enthusiasm. 

[RegularKarate]

I've never read any Philip K. Dick because no other film really made me want to

A) why does a film have to make you want to?
B) Blade Runner?


I saw this again tonight and liked it quite a bit more.
I still think that it doesn't quite capture the book that well, but it clicked a little bit better.