Richard Linklater’s “A Scanner Darkly” (2006) begins, “Seven years from now, Anaheim, CA.”
A rotoscoped animated film based on the 1977 sci-fi novel by Philip K. Dick, Linklater depicts the somber tale, lifted partly from Dick’s real-life experiences living with junkies, in a fitting visual tapestry that fully connects with the feeling of detachment in this environment.
The first scene sets the tone, as we witness Rory Cochrane’s character being swarmed with arachnids that he can’t wash off. Even his dog is full of these bugs, which he helpfully puts in a jar and realizes later that they are a figment of his imagination.
Watching Cochrane struggling to shower off a horde of insects is, like everything that follows, hilarious, gross and kind of sad.
Fred, played by Keanu Reeves, is a junkie who speaks in a public forum wearing a “Scramble Suit,” which makes his appearance blurry and impenetrable. Donna, Fred’s friend (Winona Ryder) brings him into a cluster of other junkies, played by Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson and Cochrane. They all have something to hide but seem disinterested in the truth.
They care more about spreading conspiracy theories and staying inebriated.
What transpires is an anti-drug film that doesn’t wallow in excess nor rub our faces in melodrama. Instead, the stark honesty in the screenplay and performances make it feel immediate and unforced. The cell phones the characters use are big enough to suggest the early 2000s. Otherwise, this could be right now.
The Scramble Suits are a dazzling concept that the animation turns into a hypnotic effect. It’s hard to imagination this working as a live-action film, even with the advances in CGI.
Prior to his late-career “John Wick” career boost, Reeves floated through a series of roles that were interesting but not always a good match for him. Here, Reeves finds the pathos of the role and is every bit as good as Downey Jr. and Harrellson, whose performances are showier but no less layered.
A Scanner Darkly (2006) dir. Richard Linklaterpic.twitter.com/q1YQcyltho
— cinesthetic. (@TheCinesthetic) June 1, 2023
Rather than getting overshadowed by the animation, the film connects because the performances and the animation are working simultaneously; this is easy to understand when looking at Robin Williams’ performance in “Aladdin” (1992), for example, but it’s just as impressive here.
The animation elevates the work and the choices of actors who are committing to Dick’s harrowing sci-fi cautionary tale.
Linklater’s prior film with roto-scoped animation, “Waking Life” (2001), was a brilliantly constructed and conceived work that depicted the dream state in episodic fashion, with every segment done in a different style of animation. Here, “A Scanner Darkly” has a consistent look to the animation in every scene.
The overall result isn’t an experimental film, like “Waking Life,” but a top-to-bottom repurposing of how animation can be used to tell a narrative not intended for children.
Rather than utilize busy CGI to convey the scramble suits on live-action stars, Linklater makes it all a cartoon, which complements the performances (the characters are all spacey to begin with) and the scenario (the futuristic tech of this world doesn’t seem like an intrusion on the reality within the story).
FAST FACT: Linklater told Aint It Cool News that he wanted to ensure the source material’s comedic elements made it into his film. “…often an element that has been lost in his works that have been adapted to film is the humor. You see bits and pieces of it but that’s it.”
Linklater is one of the truly brilliant American filmmakers working today, as he finds ways to challenge himself and his audience. The let’s-take-years-to-make-this conceit of the award-winning “Boyhood” (2014) and the three-people-in-a-room drama “Tape” (2001) are just two examples of how the filmmaker takes calculated risks that work to the narrative’s benefit.
I realize I’m not doing a good job selling “A Scanner Darkly” and haven’t noted how funny, inventive and wildly entertaining it is. The final scene is a heartbreaker and fittingly sit to Thom Yorke’s great “Black Swan.”
There are scenes here that are crushing but, unlike so many cautionary tales that aim punish above all else, Linklater and his cast clearly love these characters, flaws and all.
It’s a little crazy to me that, 20 years later, “A Scanner Darkly” is an unseen, obscure masterpiece. There were many great films released in 2006 but this one was my favorite.
