A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Review

Richard Linklater's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's renowned novel about the allure and dangers of recreational drugs is a delicate combination of the playful and the profound, thus managing to do Dick's particular literary style justice. The main tool to achieve the latter is Linklater's successful use of interpolated rotoscoping, a post-production technique in which every one of Linklater's digitally shot frames were animated (or rather re-animated, or was it de-animated?) by a crew of animators. This gives the film not only a special distinction, but serves to accentuate Dick's characteristic combination of ominousness and biting humour. And his ingenious dialogue is perfectly preserved and presented, no better than through Robert Downey's hilarious James Barris. Fans of the novel may find that the ending comes a little abrupt in Linklater's film, but I choose to focus on the wonder of having the works of really intelligent authors brought to the screen. A lot of great things can be said about the average Hollywood screenwriter, but he's no Philip K. Dick.