A Scanner Darkly: an animated look at the real world

When my friends found out I was willing to pay to see "A Scanner Darkly" - the newest movie by Richard Linklater - they scoffed at my hopefulness for this film. Unlike much of Linklater's work, this one, I reasoned, appeared to have a plot. Even with my optimism, after watching Linklater's agonizing "Waking Life," my doubts followed me to the theater.

Here's the thing: "A Scanner Darkly" is a thoroughly amazing movie. And I didn't have to be on drugs or be a philosophy student to appreciate it.

Set in Orange County, Calif., circa 2013, all is not well in the world of "A Scanner Darkly." A new and highly addictive drug called Substance D (as in Death) is sweeping the country. Everyone is subject to police surveillance, yet the source of Substance D cannot be found. The creepy thing is that this all-out dystopian society is an awful lot like the world we currently live in.

Keanu Reeves stars as the very downbeat Bob Arctor, who is part philosopher and part addict. He is also "Fred" the scanner - an undercover police officer whose job it is to spy on a house of Substance D users. Who owns the house? He does. The catch is that all undercover narcotics agents (Arctor/Fred included) must wear a "scrambler suit" which prevents any of the other police officers from knowing their true identities. Eventually, Arctor's girlfriend Donna (Wynona Rider) gets him hooked on Substance D, causing the two hemispheres of Arctor's brain to separate and send mixed signals. That's when his perception of reality and identity falls apart.

What really makes this movie work is the art direction. The entire film utilizes a seldom-used but visually stunning type of animation called rotoscoping. In the rotoscoping process, the action is filmed using conventional cameras, and later the individual frames are "drawn" over digitally to create the animation. The end result is characters and objects made up of amorphous color blobs that move within what they portray. The not-quite-real-but-not-really-animation look sets the tone for the surreal nature of the plot.

While Reeves just mopes along as Bob Arctor, it is Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of James Barris that shines. The Barris character is simultaneously a party-happy "dude" and conspiracy theory wacko. Downey Jr.'s delivery of Barris' hilarious drugged-out psychobabble might make you question if Downey Jr. was cast based on his personal history or acting ability. My guess is both.

What I liked best is that they don't try to tie up everything into a nice package to hand to you at the end of the film. The ending is truly stunning, and you leave the theater with a sense of doubt and hope hanging over your head. The messages of liberty, happiness, government power and desire within our own society mix with the storyline to leave the viewer wondering where we are headed in our own world. Can we see clearly into ourselves, or do we see darkly?