(Before Sunrise, Dazed and Confused, Live from Shiva's Dancefloor, It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books, The Newton Boys, The School of Rock, Slacker, SubUrbia, Tape, Waking Life)
Producer:
Tommy Pallotta, Jonah Smith, Anne Walker-McBay and Palmer West
Screenplay:
Richard Linklater
Music :
Glover Gill and Tosca Tango Orchestra
Cast :
Main character: Wiley Wiggins
Jesse: Ethan Hawke
Celine: Julie Delpy
Philosophy Professor: Robert C Solomon
Shape-Shifting Man: Eamonn Healy
Self-Burning Man: J.C. Shakespeare
Angry Man in Jail: Charles Gunning
Guy talking about Turning the Light on in Dreams: John Christensen
Himself: Steven Soderbergh
Pinball Playing Man: Richard Linklater
I haven't the first idea what's going on in Waking Life.
That was my initial impression of this
film, a film from a director who, by all accounts, is far from conventional
and this is apparent in two of his others I've seen - one of which I
enjoyed (Dazed and Confused) and one of which I didn't (Slacker).
Wiley Wiggins is a young man, apparently dreaming and 'floating' around
the town, dropping in on random characters who offer up their own reflections
on life - all different, so it's a lot to take in. The people Wiley comes
across include a philosophy professor, a man who keeps changing shape, one
who rambles on about free will and whether man has free will or whether life
is pre-determined (reminds me of a Simpsons episode!), a man in jail talking
about how he'd murder those who captured him, a man who talks a short while
as he pours petrol into a can before turning it on himself and striking a
match and a scene in which Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy reprise
their roles from the director's Before Sunrise, a film I haven't seen.
Waking Life is rather a mind-bender because it's not just a case of filming people.
They're all animated. And not just drawn as standard, but done in a number
of different styles, mainly either painted or cell-shaded. The way the various
elements of the background shift about independently of one another is also
something to get used to.
Some of what you hear in this film you can identify with, whereas others you
won't. There's also things to learn, as Wiley can't figure out whether he's
still dreaming after he wakes up, or if he's really awake. The light switch
man tells him to try flicking a switch in a dream: if you can manage it and
the light levels don't change, then you're dreaming. Once realised, try to
seize upon it and then you can control your own dreams and change the destiny
within.
This is a film worth watching if you can get into it, but this takes 20-25
minutes to get with the flow. We must all have had a dream within a dream
at some point, but how do you know when you've woken up?
Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, the animation is crisp and clear
and as colourful or as dark as it needs to be. Zero defects. There's no problem
with the sound either. Although in Dolby Digital 5.1, it doesn't make much,
if any, use of split-surrounds so don't get too concerned if you only get
round to seeing this in Dolby Surround.
What there is a problem with is the extras, or rather the total lack of them.
I couldn't believe it when I put the disc in and saw a static and silent menu
containing options to just play the film, select a scene or subtitles. I
thought perhaps there was an easter egg that would find something because the
film's a little 'out there', but no, nothing.
The Region 1 DVD, on the other hand, contains two audio commentaries,
a 'greatest hits' from the live action version, Bob Sabiston's animation
software tutorial, deleted live action scenes, selections for Linklater's
audition tapes, a featurette, a Sundance Channel specail and two short films
by Bob Sabiston.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
