A SCANNER DARKLY
US, 2006, 100 minutes, Colour.
Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr, Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder.
Directed by Richard Linklater
The ambiguous hero of this version of the novel by Philip K. Dick, ruminates on the scanners that abound in the future society and prefers that they see clearly, really see the real person, than scan darkly. He is absolutely right but mainstream audiences may well feel that the film is sometimes too obscure and unclear, too much dramatised darkly.
This is what they call a cult film. It means that it appeals to a niche audience, the readers of Philip K. Dick’s novels and short stories and the fans of the films based on them. There are quite a few. Blade Runner is the best known and appreciated. But, there are also Total Recall, Impostor, Minority Report and Paycheck. Dick has attracted top directors, Ridley Scott, Paul Verhoeven, Steven Spielberg, John Woo.
This time it is cult director, Richard Linklater, who came to prominence with his ‘slacker’ comedies, Dazed and Confused and SubUrbia?. He is a director who likes words, lots of reflective conversations and philosophical reflections about life (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Tape). This is especially true of his 2001 film, Waking Life. But, what was distinctive about Waking Life was that computer animation was superimposed, painting on the live action by a process called interpolating-rotoscoping.
Rotoscoping returns with A Scanner Darkly. It suits the Dick storytelling, a surreal surface overlaying reality. (In fact, in the story, the central character wears a special suit for surveillance that is continually changing features, gender and clothing, very effectively achieved through animation.) This makes the film look like a cinematic graphic novel.
Dick died aged 54 through drug complications. This plot is about drugs, a particularly mind altering and destroying drug. A special agent (Keanu Reeves) is commissioned to investigate, survey his friends and a dealer and report. However, he is an experiment, set up by government to track the drug and the institution which produces and is alleged to cure addiction. It destroys his brain and he cannot tell whether he is himself or the agent he creates. Reeves has a solid track record, Johnny Mnemonic, Matrix, Constantine, for portraying this kind of character with confused and lost identity.
Robert Downey Jr does another of his clever logorrhoea-like performances as do Woody Harrelson and Rory Cochrane. Winona Ryder is ultimately even more ambiguous as dealer, agent, controller.
Needless to say, technically with the rotoscoping animation, the use of lighting and colour, the clarity and blurring of the actors, the film is a cinematic tour-de-force. But, whether it excites interest beyond those in the know, is quite another question.
1. The popularity of novels by Philip K. Dick? His own life experiences, writings, based on his life, drugs, death?
2. Dick and his interest in science fiction, futuristic stories? The various film versions of his stories?
3. The work of the director, his career?
4. Rotoscoping animation, the live action sequences, the animation on this basis, the voices, the compositions, the locations – more real than the characters? The effect of the animation for the audience? In appreciating the characters, real and hallucinatory? Bob wearing the suit and its continuing surface changes? States of consciousness? Musical score?
5. The introduction to Charlie Freck, in his home, his appearance, getting up, the drugs, his mental state, the insects, his delirium, his addiction? His interpretation of his friends? Going to Bob’s house, communicating, wanting more drugs – and his deterioration throughout the film?
6. Substance D, authorities wanting to control it, the number of addicts, the police and their work, the pushers, the cash exchanges, Donna and her relationship with Bob, travelling together in the car, discussions, her deals?
7. Keanu Reeves as Bob, his workers undercover agent, Fred? The introduction to him in the suit, the different voice, the chameleon, shapes and changes on the suit? The real Bob within? The official and the discussions? His task? The official saying he did not know who the real agent was apart from the name Fred? Bob at home, his house, the visit from Charlie Freck, Ernie and his being in the house, Jim Barris? Bob working undercover?
8. Barris and his style, Robert Downey Jr, the deals, incessant talk, off the top of his head, wanting to help the authorities, his critiques, supplying information, information with Fred present, the official? Suspicions? His own undercover work, the weapons, unmasked?
9. Ernie, his character, continually high, his friendship with the group?
10. Bob, in the group, disguised, his discussions at home?
11. Fred/Bob, Substance D, Bob taking more and more drugs, the effect?
12. The visits to the doctors, the interviews, the shapes in the cards, Fred and his lying to the doctors? The second visit, in decline, their handling of the situation?
13. Going to the boss, expressions of disappointment about the drug-taking, new orders?
14. His going to the resort, his mission, to unmask the company and its promotion of Substance D? The various personalities in the institution? His own
states of consciousness within the organisation?
15. Donna, the truth, her working undercover, her concern?
16. The film helping audiences to move into the world of Philip Dick, the realism of life in the American city, drugs and the future, altered states, the need to control? And the effect on different individuals?
