A Scanner Darkly

[Orrex]

I'm a huge PKD fan. I own just about all of his novels, very nearly all of his short stories, and I've read a big chunk of the Exegesis. I've even endured most of the films based on his work.

But watching A Scanner Darkly is like watching someone stir a big bowl of colorful vomit for two hours. Horrible. Rotoscope animation has been utterly dreadful since it was first inflicted upon the viewership, and Linklater's chromatic nightmare only makes me appreciate Fantastic Planet and Fire and Ice that much more. At least, I think those are the titles--I haven't seen them in years, and my dial-up is too slow for IMDB.

Incidentally, just about any film with Wynona Ryder is automatically miscast for at least one role.

The sad part is that the film isn't badly written, and I found certain choices to be surprisingly effective. But whoever thought that Rotoscope was a good idea should be catapulted. Anyone who claims to enjoy Rotoscope is either colorblind or lying.

When the film came out, I read a lot of posts here on DU praising it as the best-ever adaptation of PKD's work. It might have been, but the Rotoscope reduces it to an ineffective cinematic novelty piece. If they'd ever release the same film sans Rotoscope (but with other effects intact) I'd be happy to view it again with new eyes.

Until then, dreadful. Dreadful!

:rant:

[Broken_Hero]

1. I havent' seen it yet, and the biggest reason why

is because of the animation...just seeing the previews/trailers was enough to give me a headache...some animation does that to me...Like the animation in Duckman, The Dr. Katz show, and Ed, Ed, and Eddy the cartoon....

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

2. It's the one movie I really looked forward to

...and I DID enjoy it when I finally saw it, but I do know what you mean. I think you just have to look at it as being seen through the eyes of a terminally stoned observer. Dick wrote from life for this one, and it was written FOR stoners. I remember falling in love with the book when I first read it years ago, and that is still there.

That said, they could have found a different visual technique. I don't know WHAT, and since they decided on Rotoscope, I'm just gonna go with it and enjoy the story for what it is.

I was especially gratified that the ending included the book's dedication to all the friends PKD had lost to drugs. That in itself is a powerful message, and makes it worth the price of admission.

Go with the message and the rest will take care of itself.

[Orrex]

3. You're letting Linklater off too easily

Even if we go for the message, it's still appropriate to critique the presentation, and to that end I stand by my bowl-of-colorful-vomit assessment. It simply destroys the value of the film, message notwithstanding.

I didn't warm up to A Scanner Darkly too quickly upon my first reading, but now IMO it stands among his better works. I'd still like to see a film version of Valis, provided that they don't let Linklater or Ryder anywhere near it. Heck, The Man Who Fell to Earth has been made twice, so it would seem that part of the background story has already been taken care of!

[Little Wing]

4. I enjoyed it a lot

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[EnviroBat]

6. Yeah, I was disappointed with that one...

The premise was pretty cool, but it gets hard to watch after awhile.