Review of Waking Life (2001) by Panta O — 27 Mar 2012

Very impressive animated film, written and directed by Richard Linklater will give you a good ride for the money, especially using the grey cells! The entire film was shot using digital video and then a team of artists (probably using Ptotoshop) drew stylized lines and colours over each frame and everyone loved the style but for me that was the only annoying part with the floating effect through the entire movie! The rest was a real enjoyment... endless monologues and dialogues focusing on the nature of dreams, consciousness, and existentialism. If you're a person who loves philosophy this is a must! By the way, the title is a reference to philosopher George Santayana's maxim: "Sanity is a madness put to good uses; waking life is a dream controlled.".

I have to warn you that this won't be the best film of the year, nor is it likely to be one that you'll buy and watch often... but if you're a person who thinks that movies are something more than pure entertainment this is something that you should be seeing! You'll be taken on a journey with a young man in a persistent dream-like state that eventually progresses to lucidity... you'll be observing and enjoying philosophical discussions of issues such as reality, free will, the relationship of the subject with others, and the meaning of life... but the topics like existentialism, situationist politics, posthumanity, the film theory of André Bazin, and lucid dreaming itself won't be left untouched either.

But, what happens when our main character feels trapped by his perpetual dream, broken up only by unending false awakenings? Find out!