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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Philip K. Dick mirrors
writer Franz Kafka with his themes of alienation,
paranoia and how we define who we are. "A Scanner
Darkly" based on Dick's 1977 novel and inspired by
his real life experiences observing the impact of
LSD on his friends and the psychosis that
resulted. Dick's novel like many of his works
focuses on the nature of identity. Like Kafa's
"Metamphorsis" where the main character wakes up
to find he's turned into a giant bug, Dick's find
themselves strapped to a reality that takes off
like a rocket and that has been altered beyond re
cognition doubting their own identity and their
own humanity (a theme that also runs through
Dick's novel Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep?
the basis of "Blade Runner" and short story "We
Can Remember It For You Wholesale" which provided
the basis for "Total Recall)Fred is an undercover
police officer trying to stop the growing epidemic
use of a toxic drug called Substance D that
induces paranoia and schizophrenia. Fred's
identity isn't even truly known by the police
department he works for; he's undercover—deep
cover and when in public as a police officer he
wears a Scramble Suit a device that shifts his
appearance constantly (a very cool effect in the
movie) and alters his voice as well. There's a
problem when Fred begins using Substance D as part
of his undercover identity. He's told to monitor
and gather incriminating evidence on a dealer
named Bob Arctor. Unfortunately Fred's mind is so
fractured that he doesn't realize HE IS Bob
Arctor. A fascinating, well written and deeply
felt work of fiction, director Richard Linklater
("Before Sunset," "Waking Life," "Dazed and
Confused") adapts Dick's novel for the screen
using the same rotoscope animation technique that
he used on "Waking Life" (rotoscoping is a
technique that has been in use since Disney's
"Snow White" where live action is traced over and
painted like an animated film) adding a strange
surreal quality to Linklater's film adaptation
perfectly capturing the quality of Dick's novel.
If there's one flaw that the film has it might be
that Linklater feels he owes total fidelity to
Dick's novel. It does hamper the story somewhat as
there are changes he could have made to the story
that would have enhanced it as a film but on the
whole he does a marvelous job of taking Dick's
story and putting it in another medium.
Linklater's actors Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson,
Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr give marvelous
performances perfectly capture the fractured
reality of these damaged individuals.
Overall the image quality is extremely good with
an accurate representation of the original
theatrical experience of the film. Digitally
animated the colors appear true to the original
exhibition of the film. Clarity is sharp (although
it's hard to judge based on what Linklater wanted
the film to look like) and overall the film looks
terrific here capturing the fractured quality of
the narrative. Audio is presented in a nice 5.1
mix allowing the score by Graham Reynolds' unusual
score.
The extras are small but worthy for this unusual
film. Although the audio commentary by director
Linklater, writer Jonathan Lethem (a Dick
authority and science fiction writer), producer
Tommy Pallotta and Dick's daughter Isa Dick
Hackett (Dick died in 1982) doesn't exactly zip
along the quartet orivude fascinating details
about the making of the movie and the writing of
the novel. We also get "One Summer in Austin: The
Story of Filming A Scanner Darkly." It runs under
30 minutes but provides a wealth of background
that occasionally duplicates information in the
audio commentary. "The Weight of the Line:
Animation Tales" details the work of animation
supervisor Bob Sabiston and his crack team (not on
crack I might add) of animation specialists
discussing the challenges of rotoscoping vs. doing
a regular animated feature. Since this is
Linklater's second feature using this technique to
illustrate his story the challenges that he faced
the first time in tackling a project like this
might be missing but the animators and Linklater
were more ambitious in telling this story
providing additional challenges. Finally we get
the original theatrical trailer as part of the
small but effective extras included here.
A powerful cautionary tale well acted by a top
flight cast and given a surreal charge due to the
use of animation overlaid on the live action
footage that Linklater shot for the film, "A
Scanner Darkly" is a dark science fiction story
from the author of the novels that provided the
basis for the films "Blade Runner," "Total
Recall," "Screamers," "Imposter," "Minority
Report," "Paycheck," the forthcoming "Next" and
"Confeissions d'un Barjo" ("Confessions of a Crap
Artist") and the talented director of "Before
Sunset," "Slacker," "Dazed and Confused" and other
indie projects. "A Scanner Darkly" continues to be
as potent a story about the damage of drug abuse
nearly 30 years later as it was when the novel
first appeared (maybe even more so now). |
