Film Reviews

A Scanner Darkly

• Rating:
• Director: Richard Linklater.
• Starring: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder.
• Details: US / 100mins (16).

"Going cold turkey doesn't apply to Substance D, you're either on it or you've never tried it". Whether you're a fan of Phillip K. Dick's work or not, you have to concede that each adaptation have been brought to the screen with widely diverse styles. From Scott's Bladerunner through Verhoeven's Total Recall to Spielberg's Minority Report and even Woo's Paycheck, every adaptation sounds and looks like something you haven't seen before. Linklater's A Scanner Darkly is no different. Using the live animation technique he used on Waking Life (drawing over real action), Linklater's realisation of Dick's novel is close to its source material: a paranoia-fuelled glance at a dystopian future wrought by a serious drug problem. The drug this time round is Substance D, a drug so highly addictive even special agent Bob Arctor (Reeves) can't help but being sucked in. Arctor is sent undercover to stake out known drug users James Barris (Downey Jr.), Ernie Luckman (Harrelson) and Donna Hawthorne (Ryder) but gets caught up in the 'fun'. The drug has strange side effects, hallucinations, extreme paranoia and brain malfunctions. Meanwhile, the seedy Barris is conducting his own private sting by selling out his buddies to the authorities in the hope of gaining employment with the government. Sometimes confusing, sometimes hilarious but altogether different, A Scanner Darkly will have you scratching your head for a days afterwards. Linklater doesn't seem all that concerned with forwarding the narrative at times as he settles down and lets the characters have fun; one amusing scenario sees Harrelson, Reeves and Downey Jr. deduce, in another out-of-control paranoiac spiral, that someone has broken into their house, planted drugs and called the cops. The only possible way out of this is to sell the house before the cops come and use the fact that there are drugs somewhere inside to push an early sale. The biggest question that pops up is the use of animation: since it doesn't add anything to plot or character, is there really any need for it? You're left wondering if Linklater could have just shot it using live action instead.

Review by Gavin Burke