I Can See Clearly Now My Brain Is Dead

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A Scanner Darkly

Fred: "What does a scanner see? Into the head? Down into the heart? Does it see into me, into us? Clearly or darkly? I hope it sees clearly, because I can't any longer see into myself. I see only murk. I hope for everyone's sake the scanners do better. Because if the scanner sees only darkly, the way I do, then I'm cursed and cursed again. I'll only wind up dead this way, knowing very little, and getting that little fragment wrong too."

Where do I even begin with this review? I guess it would be remiss of me not to mention the person who was responsible in exposing me to this masterpiece. Thank you Eugene for giving me this DVD as a birthday present even though it had no immediate novelty value of being featured in a trial debating topic. I watched it at 11pm last night and honestly, I don't think I've watched such a great film for a very very long time.

I don't have much to critique about this adaptation of one of Philip K. Dick's most personal and truthful novels. I hear it's very truthful to the original novel, which I have unfortunately not read prior to this viewing experience. I guess I'll just go where my mindset leads me with this one, because honestly, there is not much I can say to discourage readers in viewing this film.

Firstly and perhaps most notably, the style is very much different to anything I've ever watched. The scenes were shot with real actors and then animated afterward to create the impact of a graphic novel which enriches the surrealist and futuristic aura of paranoia and fear, and I found that the humour but also tension was more intensified, because in a way, as the film began with lots of humour then gradually went down a slope of increasingly dark and depressing themes, the stylistic choice of director Richard Linklater almost made the film a metaphor of the exact message it was trying to send. And while we're on style, let me just tell you I thought the 'scramble suits' were a cool effect. Really cool. Anyway, onward. The roto-scoping effects was one of the most memorable aspects of the film and it certainly left a lasting impression that will stay with me for a long time because of this method of portraying the story that deviates from the mainstream option picked by less gutsy directors. It's certainly not going to appeal to everyone, but I honestly believed that it supported and enhanced the plot a great deal in this film.

Onto the plot itself, and I found that this was perhaps one of the most saddening but strong explorations into the human soul I've seen for quite some time in a movie. The characters are established very strongly, and there are only 5 main ones so there is ample time for their motives and personalities to be analysed effectively, which it is. Not only do we see the effects of Substance D on all the different characters, we also see how their interactions and comments exacerbate the atmosphere of paranoia in everyone, including the main character Arctor, who leads a double life, but is unaware of it due to the mental effects that the drug is having on him.

Honestly, I don't want to disclose anything about the plot, because I truly think that it is a film you have to watch either without knowing the twists and the direction of the plot at all, or after reading the actual novel by Philip K. Dick. Any effort I make to represent the plot would be of a great insult to this movie and to the personal hatred that PKD has of drugs and their impacts on society. The vehemence in which he deals with these substances is reflected in the great detrimental impact they have had to people close to him, and him himself, and as a viewer who is in most cases known as a cynical and sarcastic entity with no heart or soul whatsoever, I respect the story in this film enough to not rip through it to find minor flaws that don't hinder the overall experience one gets from this film in any way.

There is one caveat that should be mentioned, and that is the fact that this film is as much an exploration of the social construct and the impacts in a futuristic dystopia as much as it is a narrative that is entertaining and thought-provoking. For fans of high speed car chases, big explosions and sexy porn-esque scenes, there simply are none of these in this film. (Well there is one sorta sex scene but Shut up, you're missing the point.) To be honest, the story doesn't go a long way because there isn't a lot of story to cover. The simple storyline is one of the reasons why I thought it was such a compelling watch. There was no need for complicated subplots or meaningless wild goose featherbeak chases. Everything is focused on this group of five people and the organisation that monitors them, and I promise to all those who make it through to the ending, it is well worth the time to experience the final revelation that honestly, I didn't see coming. Ok maybe that was because I wasn't as sharp as I normally am because it was 12:30am in the morning, but more to the point I just didn't imagine that the film would be tied up as neatly and as succinctly as it was.

Another caveat however. I know a lot of people who aren't fans of being depressed. I'm not one of them, because there are many people who always talk to me and exclaim their distaste for my cynicism or pessimistic outlooks on life. I won't lie to you unsuspecting and unrealistic fools, nor will I force you to open your eyes to the truth, but it has to be said that even I found the transition from humour, satire and wit to deep philosophical and yes, depressing message a bit startling. Not because I didn't love it, because I did. I respected the film and I thought it was much more powerful because of it, but I warn you, you know who you are, if you're one of those people I described above, you might hate me for recommending this film and pushing you out of your false utopia and perfect world where everything is perfect and life has no troubles for you as an individual, and you can just live a perfect life and then die peacefully when your time is up. This film will challenge that outlook, so be warned for that if you do decide to watch this film. You will have to think.

However, the transition from humour to deep thought is perhaps as I alluded to earlier a strong representation of the character's deterioration in their personality after becoming addicted to Substance D and the mental effects start manifesting themselves. But the message isn't the only strong part of the script in this film. 'A Scanner Darkly' is also funny. Outrageously funny. Make me laugh for 10 seconds making me not hear the rest of the scene so I have to rewind it again to hear the rest of the scene even with subtitles funny.

Honestly, the lines in this film are again, some of the funniest and wittiest things I've heard in a film. It's not your 'Wth this is so stupid it's funny' funny, and it's not your standard chick flick or comedy 'Let's hurt someone' funny or even their 'Let's make crude jokes about sex or race or other types of stereotypical generalisation-type insults just to prove a point that since we're movie makers we get to be as rude and abysmally idiotic as we like since it's all only 'fiction' and we can't be sued for that, only the characters can' non-funny, this is actual 'That is really really clever' funny. I'm going to combine the script with the cast here, because honestly it's the cast that really pulled this part of the film off.

I loved all the actors: Keanu Reeves (so glad he got to do something good after the fail that was the Matrix), Robert Downey Jr. (favourite character in the film), Rory Cochrane (loved his death scene) and others which I won't mention now to prevent listing. If you want, check out the cast list of the film after you're done. It's a pretty solid cast, and even better. They can act. Not like Nicolas Cage. They actually have emotions. They actually convincingly bring off the trials and turmoils that their individual characters go through and I actually believe they're getting more paranoid by the second. I think this review wouldn't be complete if I didn't give you a few examples of great writing in the script: so here are a few excerpts.

*

Luckman: You're the only person in the known universe who's never heard of the Heimlich maneuver?

Barris: Alright, I'm gonna give you a little feedback since you seem to be proceeding through life like a cat without whiskers perpetually caught behind the refrigerator. Your life and watching you live it is like a gag-reel of ineffective bodily functions. I swear to god that a toddler has a better understanding of the intricacies of chew-swallow-digest-don't kill yourself on your TV dinner! And yet you've managed to turn this near death fuckup of yours into a moral referendum on me!

Luckman: You are a monster!

Barris: You are a billy goat!

*

Barris: Gentlemen, you are about to witness for approximately 61 cents of ordinary household materials, the perfect home-made silencer.

Freck: Barris, the neighbors are gonna hear.

Luckman: Nah. They only call in murders in this neighborhood.

Barris: Plus, freckle-deck, it's a SILENCER. They're not gonna hear anything.

Freck: Well, I'm pretty fucking sure they're illegal.

Barris: In this day and age, the type of society we find ourselves living in, every person of worth needs to have a gun at all times to protect themselves. And we're off, un

[points gun at Freck]

Barris: , deux

[points gun at Luckman]

Barris: , trois?

[points gun to his own head]

Barris: [Then points gun in the air and shoots. It goes off loudly]

Freck: That sure is some silencer.

Barris: Yes, uh, what it did was augment the sound rather than dampen it. But I almost have it. I believe I have it in principle anyway.

Luckman: Oh well, the good news is that regardless of what you do next time, it'll be a silencer to us because we're now DEAF!

*

Medical Deputy #1: You know, Fred, if you keep your sense of humor like you do, you just might make it.

Fred: Make it? Make what? The team? The chick? Make good? Make do? Make out? Make sense? Make money? Make time? Define your terms. The Latin for 'make' is facere, which always reminds me of fuckere, which is Latin for 'to fuck', and I have been getting jack shit in that department as of late.

*

Ok, so there was a sex reference in there. Sue me. Those excerpts are just 3 of what I thought to be the funniest scenes in the film, but honestly it's so much better when you're watching it. Robert Downey Jr. and Woody Harrelson portray Barris and Luckman respectively, and their characters undergo verbal (and physical) sparring that constitute most of the humour in this film. Their acting is practically perfect, and I loved every second of Robert Downey Jr. because he made the character of Barris totally believable as well as giving him the 'extremely clever but sorta creepy intelligent professor' sort of spin, which I again, loved.

There is so much more to say about this film, but I'm sure all of you are by now sick of me being so nice to a film. So I'll just make one last good comment: The music is superb and fits the mood extremely well. However, I truly and honestly believe that nothing I can write or say will do this film justice, so I thoroughly recommend you all check this film out. For the humour. For the message. For the experience of it all.

I can't promise you you'll get the ending. I can't promise that you'll even like the ending. What I can promise you is that if you don't think watching 'A Scanner Darkly' was worth it, I will come after you. And kill you. With a homemade silencer I borrowed off Barris.

A great film.

9/10

Till next time, may you agglomerate all your unpremeditated contemplations