Okay, for those who don’t know , the new film A Scanner Darkly with Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Winona Ryder, etc. was filmed with live actors and then “roto-scoped” with animation over the top. It looks cool, and I enjoyed the film.
However, as I was watching it, every so often I would take off my glasses (I’m rather nearsighted), and lo and behold, the film looked blurry (duh) but it lost all aspects of the animation! It was very bizarre. When I took off the glasses, it became, to my mind, a live-action film: Keanu and Winona looked even more like their “real” selves. I know it sounds strange, but my brain didn’t pick up the animation any more, and I guess I just filled in what I already know of the actors and what they look like. Even the non-stars looked more “real” to me with the glasses off than with them on.
If you go to see the film and wear glasses, try it. If you have good vision (or wear contacts), you can get a decent feel for the effect by squinting hard. I tell you, it is bizarre.
In your opinion, was the film made to be enjoyed by those who own bongs? The commercials are just kind of trippy, like going after the mindight movie crowd.
I’d say any sci-fi/fantasy fan would dig it. Do all sci-fi/fantasy fans own bongs? Animation fans will probably dig it regardless of whether or not they own bongs. Richard Linklater fans will dig it but, in all fairness, most of them own bongs.
I’m one of the Linklater fans who doesn’t own a bong, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I only know Philip K. Dick from the film adaptations of his work, I’ve never read him. I don’t automatically like the films based on his work, there are some I’ve liked and some I didn’t.
The animation is very similar in technique to Linklater’s Waking Life, but it’s a lot more grounded, less “squiggle vision” and fewer departures from the real world of the story (excepting a few hallucinations).
I’d say if you wanted to see a movie that is like a hybrid of Before Sunrise and Minority Report with just a pinch of Naked Lunch, you’d probably dig it.
Although, chances are someone would would want to combine Before Sunrise, Minority Report, and Naked Lunch proabably owns a bong.
I just saw it today. It is pretty faithful to the story. The scramble suit effect is pretty good. There are a couple of changes but nothing serious like say Minority Report. The even include the dedication at the end from the book.
The acting is pretty good. Rider is a little weak, but a lot of her parts were cut out for time considerations.
The animations works perfectly as it should. It brings out the trippiness at times, like the opening where the guy is covered with bugs. But it isn’t overdone. There were times, even without taking off my glasses, that it almost looked ‘normal’.
So you pretty much got to experience what the psychologists explained to Agent Fred: Your mind fills in the missing data as best it can. This is why I loved the rotoscoping here–there seemed to me to be a good rationale for its use in this film.
It is with no question the most faithful adaptation of any PKD story to a movie. It is very well done, though it doesn’t quite give the full flavor. Most of the changes from the book involve compression (though almost all the plot is there), and it feels a little short. I would have liked it to see a little more set-up.
The animation style is perfect for the story. It does take some time (even though I was fresh off the book) to understand it as a means, to get past it for itself which may explain why it seemed short. Once you get to the point of feeling comfortable with the visual style, it’s already started to manipulate the images to convey the altered sense of the characters.
It’s also the best PKD movie starring Keanu Reeves ever made. Despite this, I think his performance went a little flat, even though it’s the type of role he usually nails. Luckily, the rest of the cast is excellent.
The effect used is only tangentially related to animation. Most animation fans I know, including myself, are also scifi fans, so they would like it for other reasons. The water pipe effect will require multiple tests to judge.
