A Scanner Darkly (movie)

Happy June everyone! Here's a new Keanu movie of the month for you!

This month's movie is A Scanner Darkly

The film tells the story of an undercover cop (played by Keanu Reeves) in a not-too-distant future, who becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result. The film also stars Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr. and many other awesome actors!

If you haven't seen A Scanner Darkly before, go watch it! Then come back here to share your thoughts on the movie. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Are you even more in love with Keanu? Tell us!

And remember this is a discussion so reply to comments to keep the conversation going

spoilers are allowed in this thread so be careful if you haven't seen the movie yet.

Please try to keep all top level comments about the movie. Thanks!

First i want say about the rotoscope animation, this is first film i saw like this, it’s a unique way to portray the story without any real life constraints. and the story also was good with a well casted characters. In the beginning i wasn’t able to understand the intricacies of the movie, specifically the opening sequence, but later on found he was paranoid. It took me long enough to understand and when it revealed it’s quite intriguing to learn about the addiction and surveillance(just on small scale). This story was written by Philip K Dick. One of the unique writer for his thoughts and what a contribution he made to the cinema. I watched some of his works like Blade runner, Total Recall and this. I noticed his works are mainly based on what is reality and dystopian fiction. Im interested to watch “The Man in the High Castle” next which i heard was a proper adaptation of his novel. I like to hear your thoughts about this movie and other of his works too.

It's amazing how many Phillip K. Dick stories have translated extremely well to film: Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall, and this movie. I haven't read any of the novels, but the movies are amazing. Especially this one.

I really loved the animation. Rotoscoped animation for me has always been a mesmerizing style of animation and it was incredibly done here. The cast did a phenomenal job, especially Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey Jr.. Their performances really elevated the already intriguing material.

All in all, this movie was stunningly animated, very well-cast and directed. I've heard Richard Linklater's new rotoscope animated film Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood is really good and I can't wait to watch that one!!

I just watched (directed by Richard Linklater) yesterday after browsing Robert Downey Jr.'s filmography. Unaware that it was going to be an animated film when I began watching it, at first I was a little skeptical. However, it certainly grows on you and is pretty impressive.

are all great in this film. They're hilarious yet entirely off kilter, and with their mindless drug-induced babbling, you end up feeling just as confused and slow as they do. While I won't say this was my favorite film, if I had spare time I'd watch it again. If you're looking for something unique, definitely check this out.

... and I can't emphasize enough what an incredible film it is. It's one of the most perfect marriages of style and substance out there, perfectly utilizing the trippy rotoscoping animation, brilliant performances (esp. by Robert Downey, Jr., Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder), stunningly realistic dialogue that puts you right inside the minds of severe drug addicts, haunting music, and a story that is both compelling in its own right and that is deeply relevant to our conceptions of addiction and its relationship to drug policy.

Richard Linklater might be the best writer-director to adapt Philip K. Dick (until Cronenberg does it... pretty please?), and as one of the foremost philosophical filmmakers out there, gives you a hell of a lot to chew on. It's very funny, very sad, and consistently compelling and beautiful. If you haven't seen A Scanner Darkly, you're missing out.

What an interesting movie. I dont see anyone talking about this movie which surprises me as it seems like a perfect cult movie that Redditors would be all over.

The animation was really bizarre and made the whole film feel like a mild acid trip. Although impressive it did feel at times like they'd just put a filter over the actors and the shots weren't as polished, but overall it worked for me.

Robert Downey Jr was so good in this, I almost forgot how great he was not just as Tony Stark, hoping he gets some more interesting roles now that he's done with The Avengers.

Keanu Reeves was also his reliable self, his character was fairly tragic and I think this might he the first movie I've seen him cry in which was slightly weird.

Overall I really enjoyed the film, would rate it a solid 3.5/5 and would recommend it if anyone hasn't given it a go.

I read this novel a few years ago and still can’t get it out of my mind. There is something so powerful about it. PKD was pretty far gone at the time(couldn’t discern if he was human or written into existence by himself) he wrote it, but A Scanner Darkly is almost semi-autobiographical dealing with a character that is dealing with similar issues. Not many other things have hit me harder than this did and the quote “Everything in life is just for a while” rings true more than any quote I’ve ever read. There is also a brilliant film adaptation done by Richard Linklater that is very true to the book.

This movie I gave an 8 in the end but I feel as if I need to explain why. Summary: Middle aged man leads double life between druggie/undercover agent and finds himself unable to figure out which life is the real one. (This is being very vague)

The acting in it was superb. Of course I'm speaking of Wood Harrelson and RDJ. RDJ plays the paranoid genius in perfection which compliments the dumb sidekick role played by Harrelson. Some of the dialogue is amazing especially for how fast they are going. Once scene in particular degrades into madness when RDJ's character starts to convince the guys their car had been sabotaged. I wont give away anymore details but the scene continues on for several moments and the final conclusion makes you realize just how great of actors everyone is. Now with that said I come to the duds in the movie.

Keanu Reeves was so lack luster and played the doped up wet towel really well. His character was the quintessential nobody who was just there to push the story along. His "sidekick" Winona Ryder is equally aggravating as the wideyed blonde that uses her cocaine habit as an excuse as to why her body cannot be touched. She made little sense to me and her accent is unplaceable...is it southern?...is it SoCal?.....Minnesota? IDK.

The animaton style of the film draws you in instantly and is hard to get used to for about 5 minutes but than you realize just how genius it is for the material the film is portraying. I can't imagine this film any other way.

Highlights:Animation Style, RDJ, Harrelson, Plot, Dialogue, 8/10

I first noticed this movie years ago on the movie network and the cinematography really caught my attention. Finally I took the time to watch it a few days ago. It used this "Interpolated Rotoscope" for filming and I found it absolutely mesmerizing.

Unfortunately it seems like it didn't get as much attention as a film this unique would or should. What do you guys think?