A SCANNER DARKLY

"Total total total totally total total... total providence. "

A complex film about the effects of drugs on the mind, A SCANNER DARKLY is another example of how the ballsy movies of 2006 turned out to be the best. Set in 2013, the movie was traditionally filmed and then animated through the still-revolutionary process of rotoscoping by director Richard Linklater (the same was done in his 2001 film WAKING LIFE). Keanu Reeves is Bob Arctor, an undercover cop investigating the dangerous drug Substance D. Twenty percent of the population is addicted to it, and as Arctor keeps going undercover, he becomes more and more addicted himself. Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, and Winona Ryder all give solid supporting performances (Downey really relishes his role as a philosophizing addict, becoming engulfed in paranoia), but Reeves gives the performance of his much-lambasted career. It is multifaceted and deep, a startlingly moving look at drug addiction and how quickly and completely it engulfs the mind. There is a feeling of melancholia during every carefully planned frame of the film, and it can be seen in Reeves' eyes. Not only does he become addicted to the drug, but he is forced to watch himself slowly deteriorate in police videos. Linklater’s choice to rotoscope the film really helps to enhance the dystopian feel of a rotting culture, and the hallucinatory effect of drugs. This is one of the deepest animated films ever made.

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