DVD Review : A Scanner Darkly

"What does a scanner see? Into the mind? Into the Heart? Into the darkness?" This is one of the classic quotes from a "Scanner Darkly". When this film came out I think a lot of people over concentrated on the face that it was Sci-Fi and animated. This might of resulted in a lot of people writing it off. However this is an amazing film. It explores topics from the modern (and well grounded) fear of constant surveillance to depths of drug addiction. The amazing part for me is that the book this film was based on was written in the late seventies. Well before the ubiquitous monitoring of our society but yet Philip K. Dick was spot on. The film has an amazing depth in covering those topics of drug usage and surveillance without turning into a stoner movie or a straight up 1984 style film. The film has a great screenplay as written by Richard Linklater as well as weaving in the essence of Phillip K. Dick's original novel. The acting is amazing (Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey Jr are highlighted well here) and is only enhanced by the animation.So let's talk a little about the animation. In speaking about the rotoscoping of the film I would say that It has an amazing "painterly" sense of style. I use the term rotoscoping, being a film nerd, but you can check out an exact definition here. Besides the aforementioned amazing plot and actors the film was shot and edited and "locked" before any of the animation was done.

As is revealed in the great bonus features they thought the animation would take 9 months and instead took 18 months before it was done. Talk about a long post production cycle! The behind the scenes of this film are in two parts, one called "One Summer in Austin" and the other one called "The Weight of the Line" which explores how the line art was added to the film. Both are well done and cover all the bases. "One Summer in Austin" is not so much a exploration of how the film was produced but how the actors played their parts. Their is a great interview with Robert Downey Jr on how he memorizes his lines. Amazing stuff to here from one of the best actors of our generation. In the "Weight of the Link" it was very cool to take an inside trip into the Austin animation studios where the film was finished. It was also crazy to see how much work the animators did over the course of those 18 months to nail the actors movements and colors, etc. They estimated 350 animation/rotoscoping hours for each minute of film. How completely insane is that?

Overall I give this DVD a A+. It's an amazing film with excellent bonus features. Go pick
this DVD up today. And if you're from Austin, TX be sure to check out the cameo from Alex Jones
in the film as well.

PS. If anyone can tell me where the house that is featured in the film is here in Austin you will win a free DVD. Speaking of constant surveillance, go ahead and leave the link to the street view from Google Maps in the comments to win.