On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 2/68 |
Michael Bentley |
Like a magnificent watercolor painting, it is a fascinating, engrossing, and highly impressive work. |
| 37/76 |
Dan Krovich |
The dreamlike state of animation succeeded in making me pretty sleepy. |
| 103/159 |
David Mumpower |
I don't understand a lot of what happens in this movie but Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey Jr. are hysterical in it. |
Richard Linklater did the impossible with his 2001 release, Waking Life. The noted writer/director created a new genre by lensing the sequences in action then later animating them. The movie's dramatically different look and intensely philosophical subject matter proved off-putting to most audiences, so Waking Life has had to accept the fate for most existential avant garde pieces. It has spent the last couple of years creating buzz on DVD.
In the interim, Linklater created the blockbuster Jack Black vehicle, School of Rock. The result is that the auteur gained newfound popularity and, more importantly, negotiating power. How is Linklater using this power? He is returning to his newly formed filmmaking genre, and this time, he's kidnapped Keanu Reeves out of The Matrix long enough to star.
Based on the work of the legendary Philiip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly tells the story of a cop and robber. The difference here is that they are the same person. Reeves will be playing the part of Fred, a government agent trying to be a narc. In order to facilitate such undercover work in the future, feds use a "scramble suit" to transform their physical features in order to prevent recognition.
Fred is trying to bust Bob Arctor, a notorious local dealer of the dread Substance D. What Fred doesn't realize is that he is the very man the police want to bust. In order to be credible as a narc, Fred has had to ingest so much of the addictive Substance D that his personality has split. Fred/Bob has become the equivalent of a dog chasing its own tail.
Reeves is no stranger to the existential and quasi-futuristic. The combination of him acting in a Linklater production based on a Dick concept is a tantalizing proposition. This is one of the most stylish, cerebral productions on the 2005 schedule. (David Mumpower/BOP)
March 14, 2005
Or at least it would be if it hadn't been pushed back a year to March of 2006. (David Mumpower/BOP)
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