A Scanner Darkly (2006)

According to a 1975 interview in Rolling Stone anything Philip K. Dick published before 1970 he wrote while on amphetamines. He was a drug user for much of his life but stated that "A Scanner Darkly" (1977) was the first complete novel he had written without speed. He cited this novel as his best work, feeling that he "had finally written a true masterpiece after 25 years of writing". A Scanner Darkly is based on his personal drug experiences, which possesses paranoia, increasing confusion, hallucinations and psychosis throughout. The film was first shot in live-action and then the live footage was animated over (a process known as rotoscoping).

Being the Linklater fan that I am I was quite shocked to see him do a Science Fiction film. While I love him he doesn't seem like the type of director that could pull off a film like this when I think of Phillip K. Dick or Science Fiction in general. But surprisingly Linklater makes one of the most mind bendingly masterful science fiction films that I have ever seen. A Scanner Darkly is a film that before you go in you have to get prepared to have your mind blown. That's all I can really say because my mind is spinning after watching this.The animation is truly magnificent as it seems almost real because technically it is. Linklater shot all of this in live action and had an animation team animate over the actors. That's insane! Surprisingly even though this takes place in the future (2013 to be exact) it's quite shocking how Linklater realistically portrayed what the world would look like in that span of time. It isn't a grimy post apocalypse look or an Orwellian utopia, if anything it looks like how the present is.As expected the performances are great with some funny lines that Linklater always has. Keanu plays a character I can only describe as Neo in the present day but instead of leading the war on machines he's leading the war on drugs. Robert Downey Jr. feels reminiscent of Hunter T. Thompson with his erratic behavior and insane characteristics. Woody Harrelson is great as usual playing a pretty believable stoner which only makes me wonder if this is Woody in real life. Winona Ryder is great in her even more mind bending role in this film. I won't give away what's so mind bending about it so I'll just say this, Winona Ryder is very pretty.If I had to compare the complexities of the story A Scanner Darkly is as complicated as Inherent Vice but even more so at points and I think that's what Linklater was going for. You are Bob in this film. You're slowly losing your mind as you go down this rabbit hole of drugs and madness. Linklater captures Phillip K. Dick's paranoid mind set that is shown in his other work vividly. I know Kaufman was involved with the project very early on but surprisingly I'd say that no one could have done a better job than Linklater on this project. I think this is possibly Linklater's most profound piece next to Boyhood.If you seek for a Science Fiction film that will truly get you thinking look no further than A Scanner Darkly. Linklater's most under appreciated film proves that he can stretch beyond the bounds of what we're used to seeing with him (which I still love). Come for the brain churning visuals, stay for the mind twisting story.

There were a lot of things I was prepared to say about "A Scanner Darkly" before I saw it. I was ready to say how it augments even more the fantastic canon of films that Richard Linklater has built up; how it goes along with "Blade Runner" and "Minority Report" as a great Philip K. Dick adaptation; how it's finally a Robert Downey, Jr. film that I enjoyed (apart from the brilliant "Good Night, and Good Luck"). Unfortunately, it is none of these three things. While there are a lot of good things about "A Scanner Darkly", I was a bit disappointed having seen so many great Linklater films recently.The film is about a drug called "Substance D", and Keanu Reeves' character's attempt to shut down a drug ring. The film shows the effects of drug addiction, while also providing an interesting thriller with a lot of twists and turns. However the number of these twists is possibly too many, and you finish the film with a lot of confusion and unanswered questions. The performances are mostly great, and Woody Harrelson plays a crazy drug addict really well. Downey Jr. is, unfortunately, pretty unbearable throughout.The film is made using animation onto live-action footage, the same technique used in the excellent "Waking Life". Instead of giving a dream-like sense, he uses it here to make a film which gives the audience the same experience as the drug-taking protagonists. The animation also allows much of Dick's vision to come through, preventing the use of unconvincing CGI with things like the ingenious "scramble suit". Linklater has a very promising vision for the film, and his standard, dialogue-heavy style does work pretty well throughout – it frequently seems like he is the right person to be making the movie. One thing that is instantly noticeable about the script is its wit, and a lot of it, while crazy and slightly bleak, manages to be humorous as well.Without comparing "A Scanner Darkly" to any of Linklater's previous work, I would say that it is a good film, but unfortunately one cannot help but feel slightly let down after such a great catalogue previously. It's interesting, but not essential.

I first saw this film in 2007 when I hired it from my now-defunct local Blockbuster because I was interested in seeing what the rotoscoping technique looked like. I bought the DVD a year later. Upon seeing it, I was very impressed with the graphics and animation because they were rather lifelike due to them being traced over live-action footage. The funny thing about this film is that it was set seven years from its year of release (2006), thus making it take place in, wait for it... 2013 (although this fact may seem dated in many years to come).As well as the graphics and animation style, the other positive aspects are the well-known cast of Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr, although to me Rory Cochrane is a lesser-known addition to the cast since I hadn't heard of him prior to seeing this film. In spite of this, he played a decent Charles Freck but Reeves as Bob/Fred/Bruce and Ryder as Donna/Hank/Audrey were the standouts while Downey Jr was comical as James Barris. The dialogue had a fine mix of darkness, poignancy and humour while a few of the visuals were bizarre (a policeman shooting Freck's head off in his imagination and Freck encountering an alien-like creature with multiple eyes later on in the film) in a good way. I also liked the animation and appearance of the scramble suits. The story was hard to follow at times, but I know for sure its basic premise was Arctor being addicted to Substance D and eventually going to rehab under the name of Bruce.All in all, this is a visual treat that inspired me to make my own short rotoscoped film as part of my animation course at university. To summarise, the strongest points were the cast, the dialogue, animation and graphics. 8/10.