A dark vision
I bought the novel A Scanner Darkly a few months ago and read it in anticipation of the imminent release of the movie based on the book. I have read a few of Philip K. Dick's novels and this one ranks along side The Man in the High Castle as his best.
Philip K. Dick is under appreciated as a writer. I say as a writer and not just a writer of science fiction, because his books are noteworthy beyond their genre. His works have gained more attention in recent years as some of his novels and stories have been made into films.
The most notable of these is Bladerunner, which was based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. However, this film was only loosely based on the novel. Some of the other films based on Dick's works include Minority Report and Total Recall.
I went to see the film yesterday. It was in every respect as brilliant as the novel. The script was quite faithful to the novel, too. The most obvious and striking thing about the movie was the rotoscoping. This is a technique of shooting a film and then drawing over the film to make it appear like an animated cartoon. In this film the rotoscoping was done digitally rather than by hand.
This creates an effect that blurs the lines between vision and reality which fits in neatly with the theme of the film: the perils of drug abuse. It also brings to life some of the "sci-fi" elements of the novel. In particular the "scramble suits". While reading the novel, I imagined these as being somewhat bulky and cumbersome devices, but in the film they are light and slinky. They are also central in the plot of the film, as they are worn by undercover police so you never know exactly who knows who is inside the scramble suit.
Even though the actors actual faces are "painted over" by the rotoscoping they give brilliant performances. Other reviews of the film seem to make note of the fact that they have had past histories of drug use/abuse. Whether this contributed to their performances, I don't know. Perhaps they were just given a film that was a good script to showcase their talents.
Anyway, I highly recommend this film and if you enjoy it take the time to read the book. They are both great and reading or watching one will enhance your appreciation of the other.
posted by David @ 7:46 PM
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