movie

[quietann]

I saw A Scanner Darkly tonight with rmd. It is ... creepy, and very good in a bizarre way. DO NOT -- I repeat, DO NOT -- see this movie while in any sort of altered state, chemically-induced or otherwise. It is Rotoscoped, which really makes the movie shine IMHO. Winona Ryder is excellent, as is Keanu Reeves, and Woody Harrelson is utterly gonzo.

It is based on a Philip K Dick novel, written when/after PKD had done wayyyyy too much speed and lost a lot of his friends to drugs. It is simultaneously anti-drug and anti-War-on-Drugs. There is a lot of weird rambling in the middle, but the ending is just haunting, no other way to put it.

Comments

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

It is simultaneously anti-drug and anti-War-on-Drugs.

Heh. As someone who grew up in NYC in the 80's, I think you just sold me. :)

(Actually, it's on my 'wanna see' list, and you definetely bumped it up.)

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

The Rotoscoping made it just slightly off-kilter enough to be really disconcerting. I had (from previews) thought it would just be distracting, but it added a /lot/ to the movie-- made it uncomfortable in all the best ways.

And yeah, if you see it while on drugs I have no idea where your perception would be afterwards.

[prezzey.livejournal.com]

Did you read the book beforehand? If yes, how does it compare?

[quietann.livejournal.com]

I have not read the book; I think it's one of the few PKD books that my husband does not have amongst his several thousand SF paperbacks. But now I need to find it and read it. Friends who have read it and also seen the movie say that the movie is very true to the book.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Oh, you'll love it I am sure. Just be prepared to be creeped out. It is playing at the Boston Common theater, which is easy for you to get to from work. Other than that it's at the Kendall and maybe one other place in Boston. Right now it's only playing on 17 screens nationwide, but still took in $400,000 over the weekend (it probably got swamped by that silly pirate movie -- just as Mirrormask got swamped by Serenity last year.) It may or may not go into general release in a few weeks. The PR folks really dropped the ball on this one.

The folks at the Kendall said they'd have it at least through next Thursday.

[prezzey.livejournal.com]

It's definitely one of his better books, I'd say. You should give it a try if you manage to find it. (Augh, I've just read Flow My Tears... and what a disappointment that one was.)

I'm happy to hear the movie is true to the book, I didn't like Waking Life (the team's previous release) so I've been thinking whether I should watch it or not. Now it looks like a big YES.

[chocorua.livejournal.com]

A Scanner Darkly is one of those books that conveys a particular reality so well I'm not sure about re-reading it - tried a few years ago and put it down. Like one of the "thousand yard stare" war books, I wasn't there, but I've felt something that seems similar, and I'm not looking to feel that way again.