A Scanner Darkly

Films/DVD Asylum

Movies from comedy to drama to your favorite Hollyweird Star.

The reviews I noticed ranged from C- to three stars. Now I can see both points of view.
If Linklater rotoscoping is your only thing, Waking Life was a better movie.
If waiting for a payoff is your only thing, then definitely Darkly.
If talkiness is your thing, it's Darkly again -- but not by a long shot.
If Robert Downey Jr. at his feyest is your thing... well, he wasn't in Life but he's truly great in Scanner.
If Keanu Reeves *isn't* your thing, this one will surprise you; he's great too. So is Wynona Ryder.
And now we come to Philip K. Dick.
Personally I consider his Radio Free Albemuth one of the handful of Reality Books on my shelf; A Scanner Darkly, while not ascending to that level nevertheless has it moments, with a true paranoid's paranoia realized in the final plot twist about his drug-disintegrated protagonist (Reeves). Just two words to remember: Blue flowers.
However, I did not find the two sides of his brain-split very well handled, leading to a static rather than a dynamic relationship there, with each's awareness of the other unexamined -- although I also can't see what might have been done to improve matters.
Dick was not however much of a prose stylist (I even embarked on line-editing my copy of the book) while Linklater's movie is very stylish indeed. The result: The book has more raw power, but if you don't want to go there, the film is fine if you can accept its talkitiveness.
clark

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Topic - A Scanner Darkly - clarkjohnsen 09:38:48 07/10/06 (2)

Thanks for that... - Harmonia 09:57:29 07/10/06 (1)

Right reaction! Just don't say I told you to go... nt - clarkjohnsen 07:35:20 07/11/06 (0)

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