Darkly Scanning

This entry is a bit late...

A Scanner Darkly (based on a novel by Philip K. Dick) was simply awesome! It is on the short list of the best films I've seen this year.

The film's tone was set at the very beginning with the "aphid" attack. The cel-shading was extremely sweet and Robert Downey Jr. gave a simply commanding performance. (In fact, the entire casting was excellent, but Downey Jr. particular shined.)

It is often not entirely clear what is true and what is delusion, and my understanding is that that is one of Philip K. Dick's specialities. (I haven't read any of his stuff yet, but I have a book of his short stories on my shelf, and it's waiting for me to start reading it.)

The movie was depressing in many respects, but it also had some extremely amusing moments, and I just loved Keanu's 'druggie posing as a narc' comment. That was priceless.


Lemming commented on this movie here. He mentions that this movie really got the Dick feel right. (OK, that was not intentionally phrased that way, but I'm going to suppress the urge to rephrase it.)

In sum, go see this movie. It's awesome.