Unfortunately when it came out, a lot of critics trashed the film and called the rotoscoping technique a gimmick. A scanner darkly got lost in the shuffle of the hollow Hollywood vacuum. I've always been fond of the movie because it's less a sci-fi thriller and more of an engaging human story. As someone who has been a user for quite a while I can frighteningly say that the film and the book paint an all too real picture of drug culture.
Thanks for the insight. I completely agree that what makes it stand out is the humanity in the story! It can be easy for sci fi to get wrapped up in style and forget about the characters. PKD did a great job capturing both elements.
Agreed. This movie scared the shit outta me. Drug culture is such a norm nowadays and it's not even second guess. I don't have a single friend who isn't a drug addict and this movie was the first time I realized "holy shit that's scary" I don't want to see something lile this happen to a friend. But being a drug addict is now a personality amoungs people my age (early 20s) so they'll never see the damage it can do.
While I haven't seen anybody call it a gimmick, I agree with your sentiment. The story is a complete trip and the animation technique really gives it that presentation that adds to the trippy effect.
Alex Jones is also in Richard Linklaters 2002 film, Waking Life as well (Linklater directed this film as well as A Scanner Darkly). That speech is well worth listening to.
Linklater did a great job adapting this story. Considered “unfilmable,” he did it in an easily digestible format, with the humor, paranoia and sadness perfectly intact.
It is crazy you say that, because after thinking about the time it came out and technology standards. It does seem like in unfilmable movie, and Linklater's incredible imagination really made it happen!
This movie hurts so much to watch as a former addict...but it's also one of my fav movies. The text at the end of the movie makes me cry every time, cuz I have my own list of people loved and lost to addiction
Same here. Reading that list turns me into a wreck inside for a long time after. I think all of us who have lived through the lifestyle have our own lists of people we've loved, and lost to it.
Same, I can't help it. I must have read the book at least 5 times by now and every time I find some new, profound little detail that I can relate to on some level. That one line from Donna sticks with me the most, though, when the rehab employee calls Arctor a loser: "It's easy to win. Anybody can win."
@@robert743 can you explain what that line means to you? it's one of the ones I've had a hard time understanding. it makes sense to me if she means it's "easy" IF you're not mentally ill or traumatized. it's basically luck of the draw. people shouldn't be proud of themselves for not being "losers" (addicts) cuz it's not really their own accomplishment, it's more survivorship bias. but I'm not actually sure that's what it means. I'd love your insight if you have the time
Yeah man, substance D is dopamine, in modern culture. And becoming hopelessly addicted to it, like in Bob's speech, causes slow disassociation and eventually brain death, which can be taken as a walking final death in a way. Both figuratively and literally. That stuff about being stimulated 24/7 these days isn't a joke, and when you're plugged into your feed all the time, you live in a glossy alternate world, rather than reality. The movie was like a modern prediction of the new generation.
Initially, at least in the book, Donna doesn't know Fred is Arctor. The event which reveals to her superiors that Arctor is addicted to Substance D is the underplayed scene of the housemates arguing over the number of gears on the hot bicycle. Donna reports to her superiors that Arctor was unable to properly calculate the number of gears and this issue was what triggered his superiors to order him to take the cognitive test.
You know, I've watched this movie a half-dozen times, and I could have sworn there was a scene where Donna tells Arctor the bicycle gear scene was why she figured out who he was, just as you said happens in the book. I just finished rewatching this movie again a few hours qgo, and I literally did not see that scene, but it had to have been in there because that's the only reason I knew why the bicycle scene happened to begin with. Talk about spooky!!
@@MelancholyRequiem Mandela Effect much? LOL. In the book, after they argue about the bicycle gears, they go outside (like you see them do in the movie), but in the book, it follows them to the curb where they stop a 13-year-old boy and ask him to double check the bike. He explains in great detail why the bike isn't missing any gears and once he points it out to them, they all understand that the bike isn't defective.
@@MelancholyRequiem Like, the way Substance D works is that addicts can't understand symmetry and gestalt and chiral relationships. Kind of like the scene where Arctor can't make out the sheep from a dog. Once someone who isn't on D can show the addict those kinds of spatial relationships, they finally get it.
A Scanner Darkly proved that Keanu Reeves can act and that some filmmakers can truly appreciate all the source values of Philip K. Dick’s work. It was a good career revival for Winona Ryder too. 👍🏻
I always felt that Keanu Reeves gets too much criticism for his acting. Sure, he might not have the same range as some of the most prestigious actors, but there are still plenty of roles where he really shines.
Since Scanner is my favorite book, I tend to judge the movie more harshly than I should. That said, Keanu was a perfect Arctor. He delivered the 2 best monologues in the story flawlessly
Robert Downey Jr's too! Haven't even heard about him until I saw this movie. He really brought Barris to life. Then 2yrs later - BAM! Barris is Iron Man!
@@hypsin definitely, he was perfect! He was both lovable and hate-able at the same time with that awkward charisma, couldn't have chosen better for the role imo :)
You know why Freck sees aphids? *Someone told him that his apartment was BUGGED.* And in his burned out state his paranoid mind specifically lands on Aphids as the “bugs” all over his apartment. A riff on the surveillance system of government, and a classic depiction of drug-induced delirium, all in one cryptic little puzzle to start off the movie (and the book). Thanks for making a great video man!! 👍🏾
I was an active addict for years until January 2019 and decided I couldn't live like that anymore, so I sought out help. Been clean since then, but every once in a while the desire to use again will come on strong. But when it does I force myself to remember what is was like to go through withdrawal 3 or 4 days a week and ask myself "would it be worth going through all that shit again?" And if it's really, really bad I read A Scanner Darkly. Outside of the science fiction element, it is a dead-on portrayal of how much life sucks when you are deep in the addict lifestyle. Requiem For A Dream is another one that achieves the same thing. Really hammers home just how bad it can get, and how the fleeting effect of the drugs are not worth the titanic amounts of damage they do.
Finally a clear & concise breakdown of a movie which not many people understood at its time. Now our reality is as complex as the society depicted in the movie. It's a full circle for Philip K. Dick's story. Good job. 👍👍
yes philips' story is good yet you all miss the real master here "Richard Linklater" if you doubt my word, at leaat watch "Waking Life" and have a think.
Philip K Dick was a genius writer and visionary. So many of his books have been interpreted into classic films and TV dramas in their own right, Blade Runner, Minority report, Total recall, The Adjustment Bureau, Paycheck, The man in the high castle and a dozen others. When people talk of a dystopian future they often use the term 'Orwellian' but I think we should be saying 'Dickien', although it doesn't quite have the same ring. We also have the term 'Dickensian' which would confuse some people. I can't recommend his writing enough.
I drove 1hr each way to see it 3 times when it came out too. Read the book beforehand and bought DVD after. I still have the movie theater ticket stubs...
@@hypsin I saw this 5-6 years after it came out on tv at night as a young adult and never could wrap my mind around what in the world it was about. I remember though watching it several times as it would be re-shown on tv, maybe 3 times total at random part in the movie. I remember not understanding fully what was happening even with the ending but I was always fascinated by the animation effects and the actors I had seen before. I'm glad to finally find out what it really was about.
This was quite a difficult movie to watch when it came out because I was in withdrawal from serious drugs when I saw it, boy did I feel Bob's pain at the end when he was a state on the floor, and the heartless way everyone laughs and mocks him when he arrives at New Path, but not Winona Ryder's character. The cast was spot on, nearly all of them had experience with the subject material and understood the underlying themes of the fake War on/of Drugs. A great film that sadly, like Cloud Atlas and other great movies, was ignored because it's a taboo subject that the higher ups would rather us not think about, they want good workers not good thinkers, that's the crux of the theme in A Scanner Darkly. And Phillip K Dick, what a mind! He has created some of the most thought provoking Sci-Fi I have ever read, really imaginative and prophetic too. Thank you for a nice video, I enjoyed it!
omg, just saw cloud atlas a little over a year ago. i was floored, but honestly this movie floored me when i saw it several years ago. i've rewatched each several times since. did dick write cloud atlas too? i didn't know about adjustment bureau until after i saw it, but when i found out i wasn't surprised. i haven't read any of his stuff that became movies, but i read that book of short stories, i hope we will arrive soon (or get there soon, something like that) i read lot of kafka and gaiman, and clive barker short fiction around that same time
I agree with your entire video, except slightly at the ending when you said Arctor picked up the flower instinctively, accidentally succeeding in his mission. If this was instinctive, I don't think he would actively be hiding it. And another thing, when he voiced the quote"death rising from the ground", it seemed to he regained enough awareness of what exactly this flower was. I'm not saying he was cured of his madness, but he certainly seemed to regain a small fraction of his memory after spotting the flower.
This is one of the most nuanced adaptation of PKD's work and certainly one of my most favorite stories from him. Everyone had outstanding performances that it always breaks my heart a little every time I finished watching it. PKD's stories are very intimate and personal human stories (this one more tragic than the others I feel) that used sci-fi to further dig into our psyches more so than any other sci-fi authors I know. His ending quote on the book really sums up the whole sordid and bleak experience that it always feels like a punch in the gut knowing how terrifyingly true these words are: "Drug misuse is not a disease, it is a decision, like the decision to step out in front of a moving car. You would call that not a disease but an error in judgment. When a bunch of people begin to do it, it is a social error, a life-style. In this particular life-style the motto is “Be happy now because tomorrow you are dying.” But the dying begins almost at once, and the happiness is a memory. It is, then, only a speeding up, an intensifying, of the ordinary human existence. It is not different from your life-style, it is only faster. It all takes place in days or weeks or months instead of years. “Take the cash and let the credit go,” as Villon said in 1460. But that is a mistake if the cash is a penny and the credit a whole lifetime." - PKD
It sounds corny but it deeply hurts me how underrated this film is, as someone who understands it all too well at a personal level. In my opinion, it's one of the greatest films ever made.
Same, bought it when I was a teenager. I had no idea what it was, I'd just get random movies. I've watched this year after year and I slowly put the pieces together. Still missed a ton. It's not an easy movie to follow, but it's one that keeps introducing new pieces to the puzzle as you watch it. As an adult, and having experience it blows my mind.
This was the truest to the book of any movie I've ever seen of a book I had already read. As if this video didn't have enough spoilers already, Woody Harrelson's ad-lib in the bicycle scene was the most hilarious pratfall I've seen in a long time. And it's one only a comic talent of Woody's caliber could have pulled off. And he actually made it look innocent. Sheer slapstick brilliance!
This film is so good, honestly it confused me at first, but (spoilers) from what I got out of it, they needed someone on the inside to try to take down the big corporation creating D, so they got keanu hooked on D and basically fabricated his life on 2 fronts, the cop and the man, to coach him into taking D, melting his mind, and being sent to the plant, because thats the only way to get into the plant, and then just hoping he'll come to his senses and give them the evidence they need. Essentially its, when you're on drugs, you feel you can't trust anybody, but even when you aren't, not everybody has your best intentions in mind
I think it was but different. Arctor (in lack of better name) was under cover first (as Fred) and took D as way to remain credible. Then he was assigned to watch himself (Fred watched Arctor) and confusion/revelations from it and use of D collapsed his self. All in hope that shard of investigator he was pops to surface and works again. Risky, but ending shows successfully plan. Was it worth it is unknown?
Great job! Excellent analysis of a misunderstood film. I really liked your details about how the animations were done, and your look into the legendary author himself.
I don't comment much on YT; read the book, actually read it twice because I didn't "get it" the first time around. Had this video been available back when, that would have solved that problem. I do suggest that people watch this video if they haven't seen the movie or read the book. There is so much introspection going on in the story, it's nearly suffocating. The book and the movie do a great job of exposing both the horror and the comedy of the 70's/80s drug culture. If you lived through that era, the movie is very impactful, may even having you flashing on your past. I had a friend die on my couch in the 70s, the scene where Luckman is choking is how some folks reacted - I called the EMTs, too late for him tho. Having a somewhat decompensated left/right brain myself, makes me think those days made me what I am today. Terrific piece of work by PKD and Linkater - thank you PopFluent for this really wonderful dissertation, spot on.
Thanks for the kind words and for sharing your perspective. Sorry to hear about your friend and I hope you are doing well these days. Comments like this always remind me of how significant PKD's work was that so many people can relate to his story even when he dressed it up in sci-fi.
Can we appreciate Richard Link later for a sec? The dudes an amazing director who kinda flew under my radar until I saw "boyhood". But this guy made that, dazed and confused, and this!? Talk about range. A highschool comedy, coming of age drama, and psychological thriller.
This is my favorite Philip K Dick adaptation. I watch it every year on 4/20, just because I like the contrast of a film showing the dangers of drug addiction with a date celebrating a certain drug.
I love this movie, watched it several times each year since 2007. Hit me so hard the first time and the more i watched it and the longer ive lived, the more i see how this could basically be a reality in a sense. PS. That Alex Jones Scene is way before its time
I loved the Alex Jones cameos in this and Waking Life. Was disappointed to learn he’s a nutcase, nevertheless he made some points albeit if his conclusions were harmful and counterrevolutionary.
I saw this movie long ago and it literally blew my mind and I was enthralled by the idea and the way it was filmed and the creative process of the movie and the characters and the way it reveals the truth of what was to come and already happening in our reality and in our future
You know why Freck sees aphids? Because someone told him “your apartment is bugged”. And he insanely misinterpreted that literally and began seeing bugs - which he “identifies” as being specifically aphids - in his apartment 🐛 - it’s a riff on the surveillance state theme, and how the cracked-out misinterpret things they’re told
In the book, Jerry Fabin had the aphid problem, and he developed that affliction shortly after doing some tainted drugs from someone who burned him (According to Barris, anyways, and he isn't exactly reliable). Donna says it was his receptors getting fried by D. But still, interesting theory! It may have been subconscious paranoia about being monitored that triggered it, he even spray painted his windows black (though he said it was to abolish time)
@@joeytofil2259 yepppp. It’s the same puzzle in the book. “Why is he freaking about aphids all over his apartment?” Oh, it’s BUGGED, and if you found out that your apartment was bugged you’d be freaking too. And then you mix in the drug-addled twist and realize the whole book is about apartments being bugged... and the kind of “research” crazy people do, is not to solve the problem, but to get more *detailed* about the specific and iconoclastic nature of the problem, similar to hypochondria. “It isn’t just bugs... OMG it’s APHIDS!” 😱🦗🦗🦗🦗 glad I could get this one out there, it’s been immanent and non-transcendent in my brain for decades 😂 cheers 🍻
@@nivedraj5693 Ok. Let’s say someone comes up to you, conspiratorially, and whispers: “Hey Raj... your apartment is *bugged* !! There are bugs all over your apartment!” Your reaction would be, of course, to immediately run back home and scour your apartment in search of *tiny surveillance equipment* - not actual insects 🕷 The colloquial word “bug” means “tiny surveillance equipment” and *everybody* knows that. But not Freck. Freck is *so far gone* that when someone (Donna? Overheard?) tells him that his apartment is bugged, he immediately *bugs out* and *imagines an actual insect infestation* - not only is he paranoid, as anyone would be, but he is also *stupid* and *hallucinotropic* because of his steady drug use. The book goes into how he goes on a research binge, and “discovers” that the bugs are specifically aphids.
This movie and Southland Tales are FANTASTIC at painting the "future" Authoritarian aspect..I had not watched this movie since it came out, but watched it again today..it's still as amazing now as it was 17yrs ago *=)*
I was really trying to keep up with the movie, but I didnt know it was this profound. Pretty genius tbh, how they kept planting ideas well in advance into Arcter's mind.
I was heavily into drugs and alcohol at the time this released. Loved it, but probably didn't really get the deeper meaning. Sober now, it hits completely different and beautiful. Thanks ✌️
I love this film. I was 17 when it came out and being a young cinephile at the time, i consumed this film at least twice a week. Love it such a complex, deep movie
The vast vast majority of habitual drug users are just sad or unhappy in some way. It's as fkn simple as that. No magic. No mystery. Just sad people wanting something to get them through this long hard day.
One of the best book to film adaptations I've ever seen. This was Linklater's second film using rotoscoping - His first film (and one of my favourites ever) is his 2002 film Waking Life. I think the animated Lord of the Rings film from the 70s has a lot to do with my love for rotoscoping. I used to watch that film a lot as a child (we had a limited VHS collection - All of the films I had were recorded from the TV or copies we made as we had 2 VHS players to do this).
I wondered why you called it a si-fi movie, but I realized that we're living in this society currently. I forgot this came out over 15 years ago. And the book, even longer.
I just watched this film. Ive heard about it yrs ago but never got around to watching it,im glad i did. Im proud of Keanu Reeves,just like Jim Carrey,they can play funny comedic roles and also play serious roles.
This movie made me just really think deep on how people with Audrey/Donna's mindset can even work. They feel guilty for what they do to others, genuinely care, but still go through with destroying them anyways. I'll never understand how people can contradict and betray their own morals like this yet still care and feel guilt all at the same time. What's it matter to care or feel guilt when you still decided to still be a POS? Feeling bad about it doesn't change what came about of your actions.
Thank You for sharing the scariest truth and most relevant experience if ever, ahead of digital based movies this is the scary truth no one is talking about.
If you are looking for more deep and awesome rotoscoped animation, then I suggest "Undone" Rotoscope and other forms of animation has serious potential
Nice cameo by Alex Jones before he became (in)famous and even crazier than he was at the start. This movie also uses the same computer animation techniques employed in Linklater’s wonderful 2001 movie Waking Life, which I highly recommend.
It’s one of my favorites. But Audrey as Donna has fallen for Bob. She uses the scramble suit to become the girl he picked up at the bar. She’s intimate with him on that. Neutral term. Thinking he doesn’t find out in the surveillance
Wow, well done! Amazing work, really appreciate the time you put into this it really helped me understand some holes in the story i wasn't quite getting. Thank you so much!
It's probably too difficult to grasp if ur typical movie consumption consists of fast n furious and transformers.....where it's 90 percent action and maybe 10 words a minute. There's nothing to it....just sit back n enjoy the dialogue.....I kind of like it because every conversation is like an individual experience itself....the overall plot will slowly reveal itself.o mean the conversations captures the style of the 70s America the Vietnam era how they talk,what they talk about.....and every conversation is like a slice of life....when u see keeanu reeves hang out with his stoner friends.... Although one thing I hate is the art style though,it's kinda disorientating although I know they are going for a certain feel. I wish there was more movies like these.....where the dialogue tells a story.....kinda like pulp fiction or reservoir dogs....
@@jont2576 there is, yes philips' story is good yet you all miss the real master here "Richard Linklater" if you doubt my word, at least watch "Waking Life" and have a think.
@@raymondpierce4801 yeah I know it's the other guy who wrote the dialogue.... probably why it has a different feel to other pdk and most other movies.... probably gonna try watching some of his stuff later.
That was a really well put together analysis. I had a good understanding of the movie and PKDs intentions, but now understand better, thanks. I think I'll go watch the movie again
I watched this movie on a quarter of mushrooms and it put me in an extremely bad trip i thought i was fucked for life. I literally thought i was a character in this movie and it felt like it lasted a life time
Its hard to not be in awe of PKD each time you read this book or watch the movie. The tight plot, the layering and symbolism, the mindfuckery, the humor, the raw pain, the obvious autobiographical tilt. It'll make you cry if you let it. Its only true scfi element is the scramble suit, and other than his brief foray into writing americana, its his book that requires the fewest leaps of faith to believe. It was his first novel after x kalay rehab after a long dry spell and psychosis, and he was at his absolute best. One of my favorite moments in the book is when Fred is surveiiling Arctor and has to watch hours of Arctor and his clown junkie friends talk about total nonsense, and he gets frustrated and fast forwards an hour and they're still talking about the same thing, an inch-tall LSD microdot factory. Its laugh out loud funny.
Alex Jones was in Waking Life... Really starting to miss the moderate dialogue about expression and identity before everyone decided to do what they tell ya. Philip K Dick often wrote about Consent without realizing it. Cause... you know, the drugs.
Unfortunately when it came out, a lot of critics trashed the film and called the rotoscoping technique a gimmick. A scanner darkly got lost in the shuffle of the hollow Hollywood vacuum. I've always been fond of the movie because it's less a sci-fi thriller and more of an engaging human story. As someone who has been a user for quite a while I can frighteningly say that the film and the book paint an all too real picture of drug culture.
Thanks for the insight. I completely agree that what makes it stand out is the humanity in the story! It can be easy for sci fi to get wrapped up in style and forget about the characters. PKD did a great job capturing both elements.
Agreed. This movie scared the shit outta me. Drug culture is such a norm nowadays and it's not even second guess. I don't have a single friend who isn't a drug addict and this movie was the first time I realized "holy shit that's scary" I don't want to see something lile this happen to a friend. But being a drug addict is now a personality amoungs people my age (early 20s) so they'll never see the damage it can do.
While I haven't seen anybody call it a gimmick, I agree with your sentiment. The story is a complete trip and the animation technique really gives it that presentation that adds to the trippy effect.
It also captures the paranoia of a surveillance society, a society of control.
The critic reviews for or are actually quite decent. Don't know where you got the idea from that it was not well received.
Alex Jones as Street prophet with bullhorn. Perfect casting.
Alex Jones is also in Richard Linklaters 2002 film, Waking Life as well (Linklater directed this film as well as A Scanner Darkly).
That speech is well worth listening to.
Linklater did a great job adapting this story. Considered “unfilmable,” he did it in an easily digestible format, with the humor, paranoia and sadness perfectly intact.
It is crazy you say that, because after thinking about the time it came out and technology standards. It does seem like in unfilmable movie, and Linklater's incredible imagination really made it happen!
@@JustinMarquez The actual process of animation was BRUTAL
This movie hurts so much to watch as a former addict...but it's also one of my fav movies. The text at the end of the movie makes me cry every time, cuz I have my own list of people loved and lost to addiction
Same here. Reading that list turns me into a wreck inside for a long time after. I think all of us who have lived through the lifestyle have our own lists of people we've loved, and lost to it.
Same. Great movie & amazing cast, even better book, but totally heartbreaking to all of us that have lived the "high" life to an extreme.
Yeah it really comes full circle with some insight
Same, I can't help it. I must have read the book at least 5 times by now and every time I find some new, profound little detail that I can relate to on some level. That one line from Donna sticks with me the most, though, when the rehab employee calls Arctor a loser:
"It's easy to win. Anybody can win."
@@robert743 can you explain what that line means to you? it's one of the ones I've had a hard time understanding. it makes sense to me if she means it's "easy" IF you're not mentally ill or traumatized. it's basically luck of the draw. people shouldn't be proud of themselves for not being "losers" (addicts) cuz it's not really their own accomplishment, it's more survivorship bias. but I'm not actually sure that's what it means. I'd love your insight if you have the time
Wayyyy ahead of it's time. The dystopia correlates pretty well with current times.
Definitely agree
@@tedmalley7636 the sad thing is that most people dont kow this is happening and the ones who do hardly ever do anything about it because they cant
@@simonhorak glad u guys see what im seeing
Very true this is reality
Yeah man, substance D is dopamine, in modern culture. And becoming hopelessly addicted to it, like in Bob's speech, causes slow disassociation and eventually brain death, which can be taken as a walking final death in a way. Both figuratively and literally. That stuff about being stimulated 24/7 these days isn't a joke, and when you're plugged into your feed all the time, you live in a glossy alternate world, rather than reality. The movie was like a modern prediction of the new generation.
Initially, at least in the book, Donna doesn't know Fred is Arctor. The event which reveals to her superiors that Arctor is addicted to Substance D is the underplayed scene of the housemates arguing over the number of gears on the hot bicycle. Donna reports to her superiors that Arctor was unable to properly calculate the number of gears and this issue was what triggered his superiors to order him to take the cognitive test.
You know, I've watched this movie a half-dozen times, and I could have sworn there was a scene where Donna tells Arctor the bicycle gear scene was why she figured out who he was, just as you said happens in the book. I just finished rewatching this movie again a few hours qgo, and I literally did not see that scene, but it had to have been in there because that's the only reason I knew why the bicycle scene happened to begin with. Talk about spooky!!
@@MelancholyRequiem Mandela Effect much? LOL. In the book, after they argue about the bicycle gears, they go outside (like you see them do in the movie), but in the book, it follows them to the curb where they stop a 13-year-old boy and ask him to double check the bike. He explains in great detail why the bike isn't missing any gears and once he points it out to them, they all understand that the bike isn't defective.
@@MelancholyRequiem Like, the way Substance D works is that addicts can't understand symmetry and gestalt and chiral relationships. Kind of like the scene where Arctor can't make out the sheep from a dog. Once someone who isn't on D can show the addict those kinds of spatial relationships, they finally get it.
A Scanner Darkly proved that Keanu Reeves can act and that some filmmakers can truly appreciate all the source values of Philip K. Dick’s work. It was a good career revival for Winona Ryder too. 👍🏻
I always felt that Keanu Reeves gets too much criticism for his acting. Sure, he might not have the same range as some of the most prestigious actors, but there are still plenty of roles where he really shines.
@@PopFluent I first saw Keanu in Permanent Record and he originally impressed me in that.
Since Scanner is my favorite book, I tend to judge the movie more harshly than I should. That said, Keanu was a perfect Arctor. He delivered the 2 best monologues in the story flawlessly
Robert Downey Jr's too! Haven't even heard about him until I saw this movie. He really brought Barris to life. Then 2yrs later - BAM! Barris is Iron Man!
@@hypsin definitely, he was perfect! He was both lovable and hate-able at the same time with that awkward charisma, couldn't have chosen better for the role imo :)
You know why Freck sees aphids? *Someone told him that his apartment was BUGGED.* And in his burned out state his paranoid mind specifically lands on Aphids as the “bugs” all over his apartment. A riff on the surveillance system of government, and a classic depiction of drug-induced delirium, all in one cryptic little puzzle to start off the movie (and the book). Thanks for making a great video man!! 👍🏾
i was rewatching it yesterday. i haven't read the book, but i was thinking what a great way that was to start it in media res
I tortured myself one time by watching this and requiem of a dream while dopesick of heron
I was an active addict for years until January 2019 and decided I couldn't live like that anymore, so I sought out help. Been clean since then, but every once in a while the desire to use again will come on strong. But when it does I force myself to remember what is was like to go through withdrawal 3 or 4 days a week and ask myself "would it be worth going through all that shit again?" And if it's really, really bad I read A Scanner Darkly. Outside of the science fiction element, it is a dead-on portrayal of how much life sucks when you are deep in the addict lifestyle. Requiem For A Dream is another one that achieves the same thing. Really hammers home just how bad it can get, and how the fleeting effect of the drugs are not worth the titanic amounts of damage they do.
Finally a clear & concise breakdown of a movie which not many people understood at its time.
Now our reality is as complex as the society depicted in the movie. It's a full circle for Philip K. Dick's story.
Good job. 👍👍
yes philips' story is good yet you all miss the real master here "Richard Linklater" if you doubt my word, at leaat watch "Waking Life" and have a think.
Life is a circle.
@@raymondpierce4801 He also did School of Rock, which is honestly just as good IMO
@@Level_Eleven Thanks I'll take a look 👍
Check out Dashen Grizzley's breakdown from 4 years ago.
I don't know how you even come up with a story this complicated. I love it.
Drugs
on a similar note your should watch Primer, it’s mind boggling…
7:45 *Alex Jones disappearing off the street into a van for the 7th time thus far*
This movie is a Kafkaesque masterpiece
Philip K Dick was a genius writer and visionary. So many of his books have been interpreted into classic films and TV dramas in their own right, Blade Runner, Minority report, Total recall, The Adjustment Bureau, Paycheck, The man in the high castle and a dozen others. When people talk of a dystopian future they often use the term 'Orwellian' but I think we should be saying 'Dickien', although it doesn't quite have the same ring. We also have the term 'Dickensian' which would confuse some people. I can't recommend his writing enough.
I really like that book about the feathers, that one grabs me by the balls. we can certainly call it a "dickish' future ;p
We should all be Dickheads and Dicklettes instead. Like people that created this film in commentary section
I want to see them make a movie out of Ubik.
@@kyledavidson4604 Have you read Ubik? That ain't Ubik.
Downey Jr. was perfect in this.
This played in a small local theater and I went to see it 3 times, and immediately bought the DVD when it came out.
I drove 1hr each way to see it 3 times when it came out too. Read the book beforehand and bought DVD after. I still have the movie theater ticket stubs...
@@hypsin I saw this 5-6 years after it came out on tv at night as a young adult and never could wrap my mind around what in the world it was about. I remember though watching it several times as it would be re-shown on tv, maybe 3 times total at random part in the movie. I remember not understanding fully what was happening even with the ending but I was always fascinated by the animation effects and the actors I had seen before. I'm glad to finally find out what it really was about.
What weirdo goes and sees a movie three times. I bet you got a trench coat 😂
This was quite a difficult movie to watch when it came out because I was in withdrawal from serious drugs when I saw it, boy did I feel Bob's pain at the end when he was a state on the floor, and the heartless way everyone laughs and mocks him when he arrives at New Path, but not Winona Ryder's character. The cast was spot on, nearly all of them had experience with the subject material and understood the underlying themes of the fake War on/of Drugs. A great film that sadly, like Cloud Atlas and other great movies, was ignored because it's a taboo subject that the higher ups would rather us not think about, they want good workers not good thinkers, that's the crux of the theme in A Scanner Darkly. And Phillip K Dick, what a mind! He has created some of the most thought provoking Sci-Fi I have ever read, really imaginative and prophetic too. Thank you for a nice video, I enjoyed it!
omg, just saw cloud atlas a little over a year ago. i was floored, but honestly this movie floored me when i saw it several years ago. i've rewatched each several times since. did dick write cloud atlas too? i didn't know about adjustment bureau until after i saw it, but when i found out i wasn't surprised. i haven't read any of his stuff that became movies, but i read that book of short stories, i hope we will arrive soon (or get there soon, something like that) i read lot of kafka and gaiman, and clive barker short fiction around that same time
I agree with your entire video, except slightly at the ending when you said Arctor picked up the flower instinctively, accidentally succeeding in his mission. If this was instinctive, I don't think he would actively be hiding it. And another thing, when he voiced the quote"death rising from the ground", it seemed to he regained enough awareness of what exactly this flower was. I'm not saying he was cured of his madness, but he certainly seemed to regain a small fraction of his memory after spotting the flower.
Actually if you look back he was programmed to do this by Donna and the police psychologists.
@@kchuk1965 That was the critical thing all along. Destroy his mind but leave the remnant that would cause him to give Donna a blue present.
most people are not 100% gone.
This is one of the most nuanced adaptation of PKD's work and certainly one of my most favorite stories from him. Everyone had outstanding performances that it always breaks my heart a little every time I finished watching it.
PKD's stories are very intimate and personal human stories (this one more tragic than the others I feel) that used sci-fi to further dig into our psyches more so than any other sci-fi authors I know.
His ending quote on the book really sums up the whole sordid and bleak experience that it always feels like a punch in the gut knowing how terrifyingly true these words are:
"Drug misuse is not a disease, it is a decision, like the decision to step out in front of a moving car. You would call that not a disease but an error in judgment.
When a bunch of people begin to do it, it is a social error, a life-style. In this particular life-style the motto is “Be happy now because tomorrow you are dying.” But the dying begins almost at once, and the happiness is a memory.
It is, then, only a speeding up, an intensifying, of the ordinary human existence. It is not different from your life-style, it is only faster. It all takes place in days or weeks or months instead of years. “Take the cash and let the credit go,” as Villon said in 1460. But that is a mistake if the cash is a penny and the credit a whole lifetime."
- PKD
It sounds corny but it deeply hurts me how underrated this film is, as someone who understands it all too well at a personal level. In my opinion, it's one of the greatest films ever made.
you ever see requiem for a dream? that one is supes intense
incredibly helpful breakdown, most of this movie went straight over my head
Same, bought it when I was a teenager. I had no idea what it was, I'd just get random movies. I've watched this year after year and I slowly put the pieces together. Still missed a ton. It's not an easy movie to follow, but it's one that keeps introducing new pieces to the puzzle as you watch it. As an adult, and having experience it blows my mind.
This was the truest to the book of any movie I've ever seen of a book I had already read. As if this video didn't have enough spoilers already, Woody Harrelson's ad-lib in the bicycle scene was the most hilarious pratfall I've seen in a long time. And it's one only a comic talent of Woody's caliber could have pulled off. And he actually made it look innocent. Sheer slapstick brilliance!
Fuck for Keanu this was just in general underrated and way ahead of its time
This film is so good, honestly it confused me at first, but (spoilers) from what I got out of it, they needed someone on the inside to try to take down the big corporation creating D, so they got keanu hooked on D and basically fabricated his life on 2 fronts, the cop and the man, to coach him into taking D, melting his mind, and being sent to the plant, because thats the only way to get into the plant, and then just hoping he'll come to his senses and give them the evidence they need.
Essentially its, when you're on drugs, you feel you can't trust anybody, but even when you aren't, not everybody has your best intentions in mind
I think it was but different. Arctor (in lack of better name) was under cover first (as Fred) and took D as way to remain credible. Then he was assigned to watch himself (Fred watched Arctor) and confusion/revelations from it and use of D collapsed his self. All in hope that shard of investigator he was pops to surface and works again. Risky, but ending shows successfully plan. Was it worth it is unknown?
This movie is great, each time you watch it you notice something you didn't before.
One of the best novels by K.Dick, highly recomend to read before watching the movie.
Great job! Excellent analysis of a misunderstood film. I really liked your details about how the animations were done, and your look into the legendary author himself.
I don't comment much on YT; read the book, actually read it twice because I didn't "get it" the first time around. Had this video been available back when, that would have solved that problem. I do suggest that people watch this video if they haven't seen the movie or read the book. There is so much introspection going on in the story, it's nearly suffocating. The book and the movie do a great job of exposing both the horror and the comedy of the 70's/80s drug culture. If you lived through that era, the movie is very impactful, may even having you flashing on your past. I had a friend die on my couch in the 70s, the scene where Luckman is choking is how some folks reacted - I called the EMTs, too late for him tho. Having a somewhat decompensated left/right brain myself, makes me think those days made me what I am today. Terrific piece of work by PKD and Linkater - thank you PopFluent for this really wonderful dissertation, spot on.
Thanks for the kind words and for sharing your perspective. Sorry to hear about your friend and I hope you are doing well these days. Comments like this always remind me of how significant PKD's work was that so many people can relate to his story even when he dressed it up in sci-fi.
Can we appreciate Richard Link later for a sec? The dudes an amazing director who kinda flew under my radar until I saw "boyhood". But this guy made that, dazed and confused, and this!? Talk about range. A highschool comedy, coming of age drama, and psychological thriller.
Check out Before Sunrise and add love story to the list...
Check out waking life .. my favorite film ever
I had visions of different artists while bob was in the scramble suit, Freddy Mercury, john Lennon and David Bowie I recognized briefly
Kurt Cobain
This is my favorite Philip K Dick adaptation. I watch it every year on 4/20, just because I like the contrast of a film showing the dangers of drug addiction with a date celebrating a certain drug.
fascism?
I love this movie, watched it several times each year since 2007. Hit me so hard the first time and the more i watched it and the longer ive lived, the more i see how this could basically be a reality in a sense.
PS. That Alex Jones Scene is way before its time
I loved the Alex Jones cameos in this and Waking Life. Was disappointed to learn he’s a nutcase, nevertheless he made some points albeit if his conclusions were harmful and counterrevolutionary.
what a great review, didn’t realise the subconscious cues that were fed to Artur throughout. Mind blown...
I saw this movie long ago and it literally blew my mind and I was enthralled by the idea and the way it was filmed and the creative process of the movie and the characters and the way it reveals the truth of what was to come and already happening in our reality and in our future
I'm enthralled by that profile picture
You know why Freck sees aphids? Because someone told him “your apartment is bugged”. And he insanely misinterpreted that literally and began seeing bugs - which he “identifies” as being specifically aphids - in his apartment 🐛 - it’s a riff on the surveillance state theme, and how the cracked-out misinterpret things they’re told
In the book, Jerry Fabin had the aphid problem, and he developed that affliction shortly after doing some tainted drugs from someone who burned him (According to Barris, anyways, and he isn't exactly reliable). Donna says it was his receptors getting fried by D. But still, interesting theory! It may have been subconscious paranoia about being monitored that triggered it, he even spray painted his windows black (though he said it was to abolish time)
@@joeytofil2259 yepppp. It’s the same puzzle in the book. “Why is he freaking about aphids all over his apartment?” Oh, it’s BUGGED, and if you found out that your apartment was bugged you’d be freaking too. And then you mix in the drug-addled twist and realize the whole book is about apartments being bugged... and the kind of “research” crazy people do, is not to solve the problem, but to get more *detailed* about the specific and iconoclastic nature of the problem, similar to hypochondria. “It isn’t just bugs... OMG it’s APHIDS!” 😱🦗🦗🦗🦗 glad I could get this one out there, it’s been immanent and non-transcendent in my brain for decades 😂 cheers 🍻
@@SK-le1gm I'm sorry but I don't understand the significance behind the bugs specifically being Aphids. could you please explain it to me?
@@nivedraj5693 Ok. Let’s say someone comes up to you, conspiratorially, and whispers: “Hey Raj... your apartment is *bugged* !! There are bugs all over your apartment!” Your reaction would be, of course, to immediately run back home and scour your apartment in search of *tiny surveillance equipment* - not actual insects 🕷 The colloquial word “bug” means “tiny surveillance equipment” and *everybody* knows that.
But not Freck.
Freck is *so far gone* that when someone (Donna? Overheard?) tells him that his apartment is bugged, he immediately *bugs out* and *imagines an actual insect infestation* - not only is he paranoid, as anyone would be, but he is also *stupid* and *hallucinotropic* because of his steady drug use.
The book goes into how he goes on a research binge, and “discovers” that the bugs are specifically aphids.
@@SK-le1gm I get that but do Aphids mean something else?
This movie and Southland Tales are FANTASTIC at painting the "future" Authoritarian aspect..I had not watched this movie since it came out, but watched it again today..it's still as amazing now as it was 17yrs ago *=)*
I paused at 2:56, rented, watched and I'm back.......I hope this pays off.
......
It did! Thank you. This needs a sequel.
Crazy this movie came out in 2006, it feels way too modern, the world, the plot, the societal issue, and the visual imagery
I was really trying to keep up with the movie, but I didnt know it was this profound.
Pretty genius tbh, how they kept planting ideas well in advance into Arcter's mind.
I was heavily into drugs and alcohol at the time this released. Loved it, but probably didn't really get the deeper meaning. Sober now, it hits completely different and beautiful. Thanks ✌️
A towering work of art. Everything came together. I do hope to see this kind of animation again. Thanks for giving the film some love.
Undone on prime uses rotoscope it's really good.
@@saraswinea2636 Oh wow thanks I never knew about that!
@@saraswinea2636 Undone is an excellent show. Thank you for mentioning it!
I love this film. I was 17 when it came out and being a young cinephile at the time, i consumed this film at least twice a week. Love it such a complex, deep movie
This was a fantastic run down. Thank you so much for putting this together. If you put out content regularly you could make a living out of this.
The vast vast majority of habitual drug users are just sad or unhappy in some way. It's as fkn simple as that. No magic. No mystery. Just sad people wanting something to get them through this long hard day.
I got this recommended to me randomly once, i found it really good and it made me love rotoscoping
One of the best book to film adaptations I've ever seen.
This was Linklater's second film using rotoscoping - His first film (and one of my favourites ever) is his 2002 film Waking Life.
I think the animated Lord of the Rings film from the 70s has a lot to do with my love for rotoscoping. I used to watch that film
a lot as a child (we had a limited VHS collection - All of the films I had were recorded from the TV or copies we made as we had 2 VHS players to do this).
I remember watching it when it 1st came out on the theatre... that ending was AMAZING
It was. Very depressing though.
I wondered why you called it a si-fi movie, but I realized that we're living in this society currently. I forgot this came out over 15 years ago. And the book, even longer.
This is such a good analysis. It’s unfair you have so few subscribers! Great job!
Thanks! The channel is still pretty new so I’m just happy to see a little growth with each video!
You asked me to yell at you:
GREAT REVIEW! THANKS LOADS! 👍🏻😉✊🏻
I just watched this film. Ive heard about it yrs ago but never got around to watching it,im glad i did. Im proud of Keanu Reeves,just like Jim Carrey,they can play funny comedic roles and also play serious roles.
Also the blue flowers that we see in zootobia is sort of a reference to the blue flowers used in substance D
Absolutely brilliant review
This movie made me just really think deep on how people with Audrey/Donna's mindset can even work. They feel guilty for what they do to others, genuinely care, but still go through with destroying them anyways. I'll never understand how people can contradict and betray their own morals like this yet still care and feel guilt all at the same time. What's it matter to care or feel guilt when you still decided to still be a POS? Feeling bad about it doesn't change what came about of your actions.
Because feelings aren't logic.
@@nighthawkviper6791 Fair enough response for sure!
I think Donna felt justified in the same way by Bob “choosing” to take substance D. It rationalized her choice to sacrifice him, so to speak.
It's that recurring theme of the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the individual, or the few. :(
This is a great review of it! I loved how close you brought it to PKD!!❤
I still can’t get over how I ate mushrooms and watched this movie and when I realized the end, I was blown away in such awe.
Such a good analysis! Loved the movie but didn’t even realize all of the symbolism behind it
Thank you!
It took the technique to make Winona look her best ever.
Thank You for sharing the scariest truth and most relevant experience if ever, ahead of digital based movies this is the scary truth no one is talking about.
It’s one of my all time favorite flicks. Seen it a bunch own it on dvd. By far my favorite Keanu flick
You know what would be interesting. If we didn’t know that bob was Fred and that it would be revealed at the end with bob
I do believe that blue flowers are supposed to symbolize knowledge and enlightenment in the same way that roses symbolize love & romance
Awesome video. I was pretty lost when watching the movie for the first time but everything became so much more clear now!
Guess you can see you saw the film pretty darkly
This explanation helped a lot, thank you.
No problem! Thanks for watching!
One of my favorite movies ever and yet scares the shit out of me lol
If you are looking for more deep and awesome rotoscoped animation, then I suggest "Undone"
Rotoscope and other forms of animation has serious potential
Undone is incredible. Great cast too.
After watching this movie I legit said “What The Fuck” it’s so fantastic yet so mindbending. One of the most underrated movies ever
The greatest film I’ve ever seen
Nice cameo by Alex Jones before he became (in)famous and even crazier than he was at the start.
This movie also uses the same computer animation techniques employed in Linklater’s wonderful 2001 movie Waking Life, which I highly recommend.
It’s one of my favorites. But Audrey as Donna has fallen for Bob. She uses the scramble suit to become the girl he picked up at the bar. She’s intimate with him on that. Neutral term. Thinking he doesn’t find out in the surveillance
The surveillance, the drugs. The monologue, it was trying to tell you something
wow, thank you for this sober synopsis. i appreciate the film so much more now.
Wow, well done! Amazing work, really appreciate the time you put into this it really helped me understand some holes in the story i wasn't quite getting. Thank you so much!
Waking life is another great film. And Alex Jones appears in them both.
One of my favorite PKD books and favorite Richard Linkletter films.
This actually occurred 2 blocks from my house. It was my friend Kevins house.
It's disorienting to read a book like that happens in your neighborhood.
Sidenote: that spoiler warning was smoooth and clean brother! Thanks
This is one of my favorites of all time it's always in my top ten movies of all time
Very good video. Its crazy your channel hasn't taken off yet.
Thanks!
One of my fave movies of all time. Defs my fave Keanu movie. :)
This movie is soo underrated. I can't explain it.
EXCELLENT explanation
This film is absolutely fascinating
So, The Matrix sorta movie but better than Matrix? Awesome
Thanks so much for the analysis. It is always great to have other minds work through the complexities of movies like this. Great Job
One of Hollywood's top 10 Actors. Period.
Phillip Dick was a time traveler.
Great explanation! Thank you very much. Quite a sad ending.
How am i only just finding out about this by accident
I watched A Scanner Darkly stoned and i think it was absolutely genius
Good Job Explaining. Such an amazing movie, Loved it.
The first 5 minutes I watch this film: "what is THIS"?
I'm confused about everything. The animation makes me uncomfortable, the story confused me.
We don’t know exactly what our reality is and that is made clear in this movie
It's supposed to be that way don't worry. You might have to watch it a couple times to start making connections.
It's probably too difficult to grasp if ur typical movie consumption consists of fast n furious and transformers.....where it's 90 percent action and maybe 10 words a minute.
There's nothing to it....just sit back n enjoy the dialogue.....I kind of like it because every conversation is like an individual experience itself....the overall plot will slowly reveal itself.o mean the conversations captures the style of the 70s America the Vietnam era how they talk,what they talk about.....and every conversation is like a slice of life....when u see keeanu reeves hang out with his stoner friends....
Although one thing I hate is the art style though,it's kinda disorientating although I know they are going for a certain feel.
I wish there was more movies like these.....where the dialogue tells a story.....kinda like pulp fiction or reservoir dogs....
@@jont2576 there is, yes philips' story is good yet you all miss the real master here "Richard Linklater" if you doubt my word, at least watch "Waking Life" and have a think.
@@raymondpierce4801 yeah I know it's the other guy who wrote the dialogue.... probably why it has a different feel to other pdk and most other movies.... probably gonna try watching some of his stuff later.
I loved this film it really woke me up to the false of self
That was a really well put together analysis. I had a good understanding of the movie and PKDs intentions, but now understand better, thanks. I think I'll go watch the movie again
Thanks for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed it
One of my favorites of all time .
This was very well done. Very impressive, good job!
I watched this movie on a quarter of mushrooms and it put me in an extremely bad trip i thought i was fucked for life. I literally thought i was a character in this movie and it felt like it lasted a life time
Its hard to not be in awe of PKD each time you read this book or watch the movie. The tight plot, the layering and symbolism, the mindfuckery, the humor, the raw pain, the obvious autobiographical tilt. It'll make you cry if you let it. Its only true scfi element is the scramble suit, and other than his brief foray into writing americana, its his book that requires the fewest leaps of faith to believe. It was his first novel after x kalay rehab after a long dry spell and psychosis, and he was at his absolute best. One of my favorite moments in the book is when Fred is surveiiling Arctor and has to watch hours of Arctor and his clown junkie friends talk about total nonsense, and he gets frustrated and fast forwards an hour and they're still talking about the same thing, an inch-tall LSD microdot factory. Its laugh out loud funny.
Kick ass review !! Subscribed ...
Alex Jones was in Waking Life...
Really starting to miss the moderate dialogue about expression and identity before everyone decided to do what they tell ya.
Philip K Dick often wrote about Consent without realizing it. Cause... you know, the drugs.