Film A Scanner Darkly

[intothevoid]

i saw this movie on saturday and missed the first 5 mins but still picked up the plot easily enough.

i enjoyed it better than waking life cause the annimation stayed consistant with one style throughout and didnt give me motion sickness. the plot was darker more paranoid and managed to be ambiguous and keep you guessing before tidying up most of the plot at the end.

keanu is actually more expressive acting through a cartoon format! lol.
funny enough he was suited well in this movie when i expected him to annoy the shit out of me.

possible spoiler -
i found the film pretty funny throughout but very depressing at the end and afterwards cause of its drug casualty message.

one question> why was the random preachy guy in the parking lot abducted by the dudes in the van?


anyeway im recommending this film to everyone.
probably the most interesting and creative mainstream-ish movie you will see for ages.

 

[Infinite Jest]

^
The message comes from the fact that PKD knew so many people who had fucked up on, even died from, drugs, so I think it's kinda understandable that he would write like that

Answer to your question: I think it's just emblematic of the idea that the government is monitoring/controlling everything, and supressing dissent.

 

[fairnymph]

I thought it sucked. I'll elaborate later.

 

[naton]

^Please do cause i read the book 2-3 times and loved it, havent seen the film yet, dont know if it's out yet here in PA. i hear they update a lot of the groovy 70s slang for the modern viewer

 

[tambourine-man]

^
Seconded. I've heard nothing but good vibes about the film (aside from the occasional - and completely understandable - moan about Keanu being in it).

What was your boggle?

 

[AmorRoark]

I haven't read the book but I loved this film... I especially liked the Randian reference with The Fountainhead... very Philip K. Dickesque .

 

[L2R]

4/5
Finally managed to get a copy and enjoyed it very much. I will still pay to see it when it's released for sure.

 

[BristolRob]

A Scanner Darkly - Substance D

Has anyone seen A Scanner Darkly? That little blue flower looks familiar. Anyone know if it's meant to be something that exists?
What drugs did Licklater take that he feels messed him and his friends up so much. The list of permanent psychosis and deaths at the end...?

 

[BristolRob]

What drugs did the writer take that he was so against? All those deaths and permanent psychoses... must have been something pretty hardcore... substance D perhaps

 

[DigitalUnicorn]

The drug was completely fictional. However, the other drugs in the movie were all real, Phillip K. Dick thought that the "main drug" should be fictional though. As for the list at the end, those were Phillip K. Dick's friends in real life.

 

[BristolRob]

Yes, but what real drugs had Dick and his friends been involved with? Otherwise his across the board anti-drugs message is too general

 

[RollinJ]

he was an amphetamine addict i think

 

[PippUK]

Enjoyed

Liked the discussion about liberating the missing bicycle gears. How it blew out of all proportion until someone says "I think we're all too close to this now."
Will have to watch again just to tie up the loose ends I've got. Liked the visual effects. I had a whisper of 2cb on board which contributed to the experience somewhat.
Got overpowering urge to punch Bob Downey jr's character at numerous points in the film.
Now had better give the book a read.

 

[SardonicNihilist]

Big fan of P.K. Dick, so can't wait for this to be showing where I am able to view.

 

[L2R]

Next month Sardinesonic
But i saw it for a second time last night and with Kylie for company, it made a pretty hard impact on me. Fuck, i can't wait to see it in a packed theatre full of straights.

 

[Byrnn Grass]

This was the best damn movie I have seen all year, although admitedly I have not gone out to the movies very much all year. And yes, PKD was addicted to amphetamines. Meth, to be precise.

 

[freedomclub]

But overall, a good and faithful reproduction and visualisation of the original. I'm not sure it added anything to the book, but it didn't ruin it or misrepresent it, either

I agree. I saw it a month or so ago. It gets a little confusing at the end but I was able to work it out. 4 out of 5 stars.

 

[professorsickboy]

Extremely well done!

I loved this movie, aside from being original and insanely entertaining, the whole thing was an inside joke between everyone in the theater who has actually used drugs. I was laughing my ass of at their paranoia induced delusions of being watched/followed.

 

[Abserd]

I REALLY wanted to see this but it was playing nowhere near me. A friend gave me a downloaded copy a few weeks ago. The quality was pretty good but for some reason it starts skipping really bad through the last 10 minutes or so. I was pissed beyond belief. I kind of managed to put together what was going on after watching it a second time, but I it still sucked to have the end ruined by a bad bootleg. I cant wait for the DVD.

On the film itself, what I saw of it I loved. Great direction, great dialogue, and excellent performances from everyone, even Keanu I thought. I just wish I had gotten to the fuckin end of it.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I jsut recently saw this movie. I thought it touched on the darkness with in our society and what it does to people more than the person stuggle that comes with the abuse of drugs. Some of the best parts of the movie was the manic ranting by the doped up people. lol. and there ability to shake it off completely. I liked how nothing was sacred a problem and a boon to the movie. I know in my drug experience while i have sought the devine all was an open book with me and my friends. I kind of saw there decent into madness but i noticed the peculiarieties of the charecters as well. The most stable ones were the ones more stable by nature. I thought it interesting that the keanue reves charecter to me at least was like the allegory of the cave. seeing only in shadow what his world had to offered through eyes blinded by mundanea he sought a different path, it lead to his salvation, but it also lead to his death, at least teh death of self. Now is that a bad thing? No? because the self he was living as was at best a shell of who he was on the inside living day by day, patternous, seeking nothing and gaining nothing.

I really enjoyed this movie. I would heartily recommend it to all.