A 2-in-1 Film: a Visual Marvel Like You've Never Seen Before... Or After
The story of A Scanner Darkly
has never seemed more relevant than today. Director/Screenwriter Richard Linklater adapts here the work of Philip K. Dick
and his original reflexion on government with this non-typical sci-fi piece. It deals with social issues, surveillance and drug-caused paranoia while abandoning the usual features of sci-fi spectacular like spaceships and other aliens. I am truly impressed by the vision of Linklater who literally made 2 movies. The first one was shot like a normal feature-film and the second movie was made by animators and drawers who painted over each and every frame of the first movie. The animation crew worked for 18 months: that's more than 350 man-hour per minute of film you will watch. You should watch A Scanner Darkly even only out of respect for the creation process and the originality of the project. Linklater turns the psychotic fate of an undercover cop into a dark comedy. Behind the drug addiction, the governmental surveillance, and the paranoia of its characters, A Scanner Darkly is definitely funny. Keanu Reeves who plays (once again) the misfit hero is actually not the best character of the story. Woody Harrelson, on the other hand, is a total blast. But in my opinion, Robert Downey Jr. totally steals the screen with his interpretation of the eloquent and sciency junkie. Winona Ryder is mysterious and Rory Cochrane is the psychotic druggie of the crew that loses it the most (he is exceptional too). I admire the artwork of the movie that makes me think of a complex underground graphic novel minus the geeky superheros. I feel that the characters are as normal as they can be considering they've been brain-damaged by the highly addictive 'substance D': yes, they are paranoid and have no future but they are also relatable which is the key to a good sci-fi movie. I believe good sci-fi is credible sci-fi. A Scanner Darkly is incredibly credible and can be adapted to any era: it worked back in the 70s and it works now more than ever.
has never seemed more relevant than today. Director/Screenwriter Richard Linklater adapts here the work of Philip K. Dick
and his original reflexion on government with this non-typical sci-fi piece. It deals with social issues, surveillance and drug-caused paranoia while abandoning the usual features of sci-fi spectacular like spaceships and other aliens. I am truly impressed by the vision of Linklater who literally made 2 movies. The first one was shot like a normal feature-film and the second movie was made by animators and drawers who painted over each and every frame of the first movie. The animation crew worked for 18 months: that's more than 350 man-hour per minute of film you will watch. You should watch A Scanner Darkly even only out of respect for the creation process and the originality of the project. Linklater turns the psychotic fate of an undercover cop into a dark comedy. Behind the drug addiction, the governmental surveillance, and the paranoia of its characters, A Scanner Darkly is definitely funny. Keanu Reeves who plays (once again) the misfit hero is actually not the best character of the story. Woody Harrelson, on the other hand, is a total blast. But in my opinion, Robert Downey Jr. totally steals the screen with his interpretation of the eloquent and sciency junkie. Winona Ryder is mysterious and Rory Cochrane is the psychotic druggie of the crew that loses it the most (he is exceptional too). I admire the artwork of the movie that makes me think of a complex underground graphic novel minus the geeky superheros. I feel that the characters are as normal as they can be considering they've been brain-damaged by the highly addictive 'substance D': yes, they are paranoid and have no future but they are also relatable which is the key to a good sci-fi movie. I believe good sci-fi is credible sci-fi. A Scanner Darkly is incredibly credible and can be adapted to any era: it worked back in the 70s and it works now more than ever.
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