A SCANNER DARKLY
dir: Richard Linklater
"This is a world getting progressively worse, can we not agree on that?" - Barris
Brief Synopsis
In the near future, America has essentially lost the war on drugs with the release of the dangerous drug Substance D. A new technology known as the Scramble Suit allows for officers to be annoynmous to their colleuges while be themselves while undercover. Bob Arctor begins to slip too far into the drug world he is investigating, questioning his own identity in the process.
Why It's Here
Richard Linklater previously created a visually stunning film known as Waking Life using the same process seen here called rotoscoping. The actors act, and are painted over to create a light, wavy animation that has elements of realism without being constricted to it. A Scanner Darkly combines this groundbreaking animation with a twisted and personal story by the late Hollywood favorite, Philip K. Dick. A film that questions and focuses on drug abuse and the governments continuingly desperate attempts to end it. The government hires undercover agents and they don't even know the identity of that person thanks to the Scamble Suit. The suit is essentially supposed to bring an end to the drug war, but Bob Arctor begins to question what he is within the suit. A million faces, a million bodies, but none to truly call his own within his prison of a disguise. Only when undercover can he be himself, and there is where he decends into Substance D.
The story is oddly paranoid, Woody Harrelson does a great job invoking paranoia and unease in the group while Robert Downey Jr. is fantastic and able to allow his character to dip into sociological discussions about societies continuing deterioration, something that he is very much a part of.
A Scanner Darkly is provoking, intelligent, and uneasy which is why the animation is so very suiting, never at ease or stationary, constantly moving and changing, creating a surreal world as if through the eyes of someone, perhaps a drug addict, who sees the world a little different. Linklater's animation is a perfect fit for Dick's story which fuses together into a mesmerizing experience.
The story is oddly paranoid, Woody Harrelson does a great job invoking paranoia and unease in the group while Robert Downey Jr. is fantastic and able to allow his character to dip into sociological discussions about societies continuing deterioration, something that he is very much a part of.
A Scanner Darkly is provoking, intelligent, and uneasy which is why the animation is so very suiting, never at ease or stationary, constantly moving and changing, creating a surreal world as if through the eyes of someone, perhaps a drug addict, who sees the world a little different. Linklater's animation is a perfect fit for Dick's story which fuses together into a mesmerizing experience.