Vivek’s Blog

Last night, I went to see A Scanner Darkly, starring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, and Robert Downey Jr. What’s unique about this movie is that it uses rotoscoping. The movie is first shot as a normal movie would be but then graphics artists paint over EVERY FRAME using Photoshop to make it look like animation. The result is that the you recognize the actors even though they look animated. One negative to rotoscoping that I saw, was that at times, the characters and cars looked like they were floating and not actually walking/sitting/rolling. It distracted me a couple of times but wasn’t much of a bother.

So, coming to the story of the movie. It is set in the near future - like 7 years down the line - and is about an undercover cop after a group of individuals who are abusing a drug, known as substance D. But while doing so, he himself starts using the drug and his brain begins to spin out of control. He can no longer distinguish what is real and what is not real. It leaves him in a terrible state by the end of the film and the audience is then told what really goes on behind the scenes in a world where substance D is causing an epidemic. I won’t ruin the end but if you follow the story carefully, you will come to the right conclusion before the movie tells you what it is. If you don’t follow the story, then you will be surprised by the end of it.

The movie is based on Philip K. Dick’s novel, A Scanner Darkly. In the past, other works by Philip Dick have been made into movies - Bladerunner by Ridley Scott and Minority Report by Steven Spielberg were terrific movies when they came out. Richard Linklater doesn’t disappoint with this one and I think reading the book will make the movie even more enjoyable. The movie is relatively short at 100 minutes but it tells its story effectively. Keanu Reeves is perfect for this role - he has always (or should I say only?) excelled in roles that require him to act dazed and confused. Robert Downey Jr. however provides a terrific performance and Winona Ryder does her job well. If you are a Radiohead fan, then the good news is that the movie’s soundtrack features Radiohead and Thom Yorke songs. The bad news is that they only have 3 Radiohead and 1 Thom Yorke song. But whatever, it was a good movie.