I
hated Richard Linklater's pretentious "Waking Life" (indulgent with
too many speeches about life) wherein he experimented with a version of animation
he and his animators have now significantly improved – to the benefit of
us all. It's called "interpolated rotoscoping." Director-writer Richard
Linklater found Philip K. Dick's autobiographical sci-fi novel, A Scanner Darkly,
a perfect vehicle for this process. In fact, it is the only way it could have
been filmed.
If
only Linklater had not cast shoplifter Winona Ryder. (It was widely reported that
Ryder was so notorious, one New York department store banned her. Apparently,
she wore out Saks Fifth Avenue "look for other way" good will.) Regardless,
one Hollywood director still remembers lusting after her in "Heathers,"
or was it "Dracula?"
Reeves
and Ryder had no chemistry in "Dracula" either.
It's
only seven years in the future, and our society tolerates everyone being drugged,
even undercover narcotics cops. Everyone is, to some degree, anesthetized by a
drug called "Substance D." It appears to give no pleasure since it causes
"dumbness, despair, desertion and death." As the society – a fifth
of Dick's future America is addicted - crawls deeper into widespread Substance
Abuse D, a police task force has implemented an undercover program. Maybe terrorists
are behind this drug, hence the Big Brother surveillance of every person, home,
and street. Everyone in the police department wears a suit that constantly changes
their appearance. It's the ultimate disguise and here is where "interpolated
rotoscoping" shows off.
Bob
Arctor (Keanu Reeves) is a scramble-suit wearing undercover cop. This suit is
fantastic (and fully realized by the state-of-the-art animation). No one, not
even Arctor's boss, who also wears a scramble-suit, knows who he is. Arctor is
told to infiltrate a guy who is thought to be a major Substance D supplier –
Bob Arctor. Archer's roommate, James Barris (Robert Downey, Jr.) has given him
up. Arctor's other roommate is hippy Ernie Luckman (Woody Harrelson); his girlfriend
is Donna Hawthorne (Whiny-voiced Ryder).
We
are not told why society likes Substance D, but we do see the effects of too much
of it. Arctor's friend Charles Freck (Rory Cochrane) has bugs crawling all over
him and Arctor has left a wife and two young children for an intense romance with
the drug. They are paranoid, but someone is watching them.
As
an advocate of ayahusaca use, I support psychoactive substances, but Substance
D appears to have no known positive side-effects. Wasn't it Eric Clayton who explained
heroin addiction to all of us: "If God created anything better, he kept it
for himself."
"Interpolated
rotoscoping" is another experimental way of watching a movie and Linklater
shows it off beautifully. It takes awhile to adjust to it and one never quite
does – at least one viewing will not suffice to get used to it. It might
catch on since actors can be ageless with this painstaking paint-process. But
it requires a certain style of acting – exaggeration of expressions and a
frenzied storyline, like this one, where it is appropriate.
The
process demands skillful actors, and Downey, who channels the soul of James Woods,
is perfect for the medium. He is wonderful here, chewing the scenery with witty
charm. Since the process requires a certain amount of over-acting, wig-wearing
Harrelson dutifully freaks out. Regardless of endless complaints, Reeves holds
the center as a moody, angry paranoid playing both the pursuer and the pursued.
The
weakness in "A Scanner Darkly" is Ryder who lacks presence and chemistry
with Reeves. Linklater should have cast someone with a strong face like Uma Thurman
or, why not, Marilyn Monroe? Imagine Monroe finally playing a drug-addicted, unkempt
straw-haired character (just like in real life)?
