Here is what I meant to write last night in regards to A Scanner Darkly, prior to falling into a buzzkilling funk.
I said it before, and I'll say it again: A Scanner Darkly is the best film adaptation of a P.K. Dick book ever. Bladerunner was a great movie, but took more than a few liberties with the source material (I don't consider it a film adaptation as much as I consider it to be a film INSPIRED by Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?), whereas Scanner, with a few minor omissions, stays very faithful to the book.
The Casting:
Impeccable. Granted, its very hard to fuck up a film when Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson, and Robert "Freebase" Downey Jr are cast to play low-life gutterpunks, but I had serious misgivings about Keanu being cast as Fred/Bob Arctor. Luckily, Richard Linklater knows what he's doing. Surrounded by such a charismatically fucked-up supporting cast, Reeves has the task that comes most naturally to him: playing the straight man. Whereas in the past, his flat, emotionless stoner-android always came off a little cold and offputting (with the exception of Bill & Ted, the first Matrix, and My Own Private Idaho), here it vibes perfectly with his character, who is both the most sane and sedate and introverted member of this motley crew of Orange County junkies. His performance in Scanner is almost comparable to Al Gore's in An Inconvenient Truth: two notoriously wooden men start getting into the Pinocchio spirit and show some faint signs of humanity. Not a single person in this film is miscast. I'd also like to give a shoutout to Rory Cochran for his portrayal of Freck. He stole the show, chewed the scenery, and River-Danced his way through Tokyo for an encore. Brilliant stuff, that Freck.
The Animation:
A lot better than Waking Life. In Scanner, Linklater really perfects it. The scenes with the scramble-suits, in particular, compleltely justify the rotoscoping decision: I can't imagine a way of doing it in liveaction that would have worked half as well.
The Script, Direction, Etc:
All excellent. Nothing to complain about.
In other words: if you like the book, see the movie. If you like P.K.D., see this movie. If you like mindfucks/junkie films/slacker comedies, see this movie. If you like the thought of spending the better part of two hours watching Robert Downey Jr playing a gloriously prickly asshole, see this movie. You won't regret it.
Post-script: I have to take a moment to express just how utterly amazing The Science Of Sleep looked. A trailer for it popped up before Scanner, and it looks great. I'm telepathically giving Michel Gondry a handjob right now. But don't just take my word for it,see for yourself.
I said it before, and I'll say it again: A Scanner Darkly is the best film adaptation of a P.K. Dick book ever. Bladerunner was a great movie, but took more than a few liberties with the source material (I don't consider it a film adaptation as much as I consider it to be a film INSPIRED by Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?), whereas Scanner, with a few minor omissions, stays very faithful to the book.
The Casting:
Impeccable. Granted, its very hard to fuck up a film when Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson, and Robert "Freebase" Downey Jr are cast to play low-life gutterpunks, but I had serious misgivings about Keanu being cast as Fred/Bob Arctor. Luckily, Richard Linklater knows what he's doing. Surrounded by such a charismatically fucked-up supporting cast, Reeves has the task that comes most naturally to him: playing the straight man. Whereas in the past, his flat, emotionless stoner-android always came off a little cold and offputting (with the exception of Bill & Ted, the first Matrix, and My Own Private Idaho), here it vibes perfectly with his character, who is both the most sane and sedate and introverted member of this motley crew of Orange County junkies. His performance in Scanner is almost comparable to Al Gore's in An Inconvenient Truth: two notoriously wooden men start getting into the Pinocchio spirit and show some faint signs of humanity. Not a single person in this film is miscast. I'd also like to give a shoutout to Rory Cochran for his portrayal of Freck. He stole the show, chewed the scenery, and River-Danced his way through Tokyo for an encore. Brilliant stuff, that Freck.
The Animation:
A lot better than Waking Life. In Scanner, Linklater really perfects it. The scenes with the scramble-suits, in particular, compleltely justify the rotoscoping decision: I can't imagine a way of doing it in liveaction that would have worked half as well.
The Script, Direction, Etc:
All excellent. Nothing to complain about.
In other words: if you like the book, see the movie. If you like P.K.D., see this movie. If you like mindfucks/junkie films/slacker comedies, see this movie. If you like the thought of spending the better part of two hours watching Robert Downey Jr playing a gloriously prickly asshole, see this movie. You won't regret it.
Post-script: I have to take a moment to express just how utterly amazing The Science Of Sleep looked. A trailer for it popped up before Scanner, and it looks great. I'm telepathically giving Michel Gondry a handjob right now. But don't just take my word for it,see for yourself.