Part A: So I’m looking around at suggestions for a movie to rent tonight, I’m in the mood for watching. So I’m browsing on Netflix, looking at descriptions and whatnot. I click on the description for A Scanner Darkly, a film I know nothing about. The description paraphrases thus;
Future, etc. Rampant abuse of a personality altering drug is causing problems, etc. A cop is out to bust a notorious drug dealer, etc. Then the description says, but the drug dealer turns out to be the cop’s alter ego!
with the exclamation mark included.
So does this plot point come as a surprise to the audience or would it not really matter that I knew that going in to the film?
Part B: Suggest a movie for me to watch tonight. I just watched Donnie Darko lst night and I’m in the mood for something similar, and as good or better. Something I can pick up at the video store on the way home. Thanks
It’s been a while since I’ve read or watched A Scanner Darkly, so I’ll gladly defer to folks with fresher views if I’m mistaken at all.
While at least one of the PK Dick novels I’ve read was indeed all about the bizarre mindfuck twist at the end, Scanner wasn’t one of them. I don’t recall the details, but the identity issues–the fact that that Bob, the druggie, is also Fred, the cop–are pretty much transparent from the beginning. Glancing at wikipedia’s summary to refresh my memory, it looks like the Bob/Fred thing is open from the very beginning, which squares with my somewhat foggy memory of the details. The film/novel is much more about drug abuse and surveillance, at least for me, than the weird identity stuff that went on in some of his other work.
I’m drawing something of a blank on what to watch that might be vaguely similar to Donnie Darko, though. Have you ever seen Dark City? It’s a few years old (from the late 90s) but may have a similar surreal vibe. **Delicatessen **is also good if you can lay your hands on it and don’t mind subtitles–I’m not sure if it’s on DVD yet though.
That plot point is revealed pretty early (within the first 5-10 minutes) in the film and indeed, much of the film revolves around the conflict it produces.
The cops in the film (and the novel) wear “scramble suits” that disguise their faces and voices when they’re not working undercover; that way their fellow cops don’t even know who they really are and can’t blow their cover. The Keanu Reeves character is assigned to surveillance of a group of drug users living together (said group includes him, in his undercover identity). That’s established early in the film.
Well, hell. I stopped by the store on the way home and of course they didn’t have Scanner, I did pick up Dark City, looks good, thanks LawMonkey. I’ll put *Scanner * on my Netflix q.
It’s not a spoiler. It’s obvious to the viewer pretty much immediately, as it shows the character inside the scramble suit looking out, and it’s obviously the same recognizable face and voice. The character is not aware he is the same person, though.
There is a twist later, but it’s not too big of a surprise if you think logically. Oddly enough, my girlfriend figured out the later twist before me, it’s usually the opposite.
Um, about Dark City – if you haven’t seen it, and want to avoid spoilers, try and get somebody who has seen it to skip the opening narration and pause the movie for you at the beginning of the bathtub scene. That’s my recommendation; great movie.
