A Scanner Darkly

For the first part of our 'A Level Film Enrichment', I borrowed 'A Scanner Darkly' (Richard Linklater, 2006). Simply put, it's a near future sci-fi film about a group of friends addicted to the mysterious drug 'Substance D', focusing heavily on the theme of identity. 

The film is stunning visually, employing a 'rotoscoping' technique which animates the actors in a very realistic manner. However, there's no glaringly obvious reason for this; it just seems as if Linklater thought it looked cool and couldn't think of a reason not to. In places, it can make understanding some of the characters quite tricky (talking quickly, as paranoid drug addicts do) as it's very hard to lip-read them.

A still from 'A Scanner Darkly', demonstrating the 'rotoscoping' technique

Having said that, I thought 'A Scanner Darkly' was a totally engaging film - the philosophical and thought provoking is balanced perfectly with the comical and quotable. Not one of its 100 minutes felt wasted, and while the plot is slightly tricky to understand instantly, the viewer will be left trying to piece the plot together for the rest of the day, and if a film can have as much of an effect on a viewer as to make them want to figure it all out, then in my eyes it's been a success. 

8/10