Scanner Darkly
I Love Dick, I cant get enough. When I was quite young my father took me into his room and showed me HIS Dick, He had tons. I've been a Dickhead ever since.
Ok, now that I've gotten that out of the way lets move on. I started reading the books of Phillip K. Dick when I was about 13. I immediately fell in love with his work. At the time I wouldn't have been able to tell you what made his books so great. However in the years following I believe that I've read enough shitty sci-fi stories to indentify what makes Dick's books work so well. I have come to believe that the key to great science fiction is in the characters and the emotion. The sci-fi that neglects to handle these key elements properly and or believably seems to feel like nothing more than historical science to a world that never existed. Dick's stories are chock full of thick emotion and its this character handling and its precisely this which makes Scanner Darkly work as a film. A film based on Phillip K Dick's stories have not come this close to justice since Blade Runner.
The flow of the film is much like the all but patented Dick story outline. The first half of the story builds a reality and allows you to become comfortable with it. Once you've become complacent and comfortable with this reality all hell breaks loose. The film much like the books leads you into a vertiginous sense of confusion most often felt by the main character. All that you had been encouraged to believe is a lie. The threads of the story fray and spread leaving you with a sense of mild discomfort as your characters world crumbles around him. Just when it seems that you AND the main character cant take anymore the story slams back together in a coherent reality which is nothing like the one that you started with. The film handles this format quite well. As Arctors world slipped into oblivion I felt his disillusionment and discomfort, it may have even been stronger had I not known the reality that was forthcoming.
My only complaint with the film would be the injected humor. They handle it quite well and it even works most of the time. However I did feel that it detracted from the overall dark and depressing tone that a Dick story should have. Not that it ruined the film. I just remember thinking "This shouldn't be funny. This is a really SAD story". Had Robert Downey Jr. not done such a good job with the humor it would have felt obtuse and added on. As it stands however, it DID work.
All in all, I believe that "A Scanner Darkly" takes its place next to "Blade Runner" as the well done Dick movies.
Now if you'll excuse me. Im going to go lay down on the couch and curl up with some Dick.
Ok, now that I've gotten that out of the way lets move on. I started reading the books of Phillip K. Dick when I was about 13. I immediately fell in love with his work. At the time I wouldn't have been able to tell you what made his books so great. However in the years following I believe that I've read enough shitty sci-fi stories to indentify what makes Dick's books work so well. I have come to believe that the key to great science fiction is in the characters and the emotion. The sci-fi that neglects to handle these key elements properly and or believably seems to feel like nothing more than historical science to a world that never existed. Dick's stories are chock full of thick emotion and its this character handling and its precisely this which makes Scanner Darkly work as a film. A film based on Phillip K Dick's stories have not come this close to justice since Blade Runner.
The flow of the film is much like the all but patented Dick story outline. The first half of the story builds a reality and allows you to become comfortable with it. Once you've become complacent and comfortable with this reality all hell breaks loose. The film much like the books leads you into a vertiginous sense of confusion most often felt by the main character. All that you had been encouraged to believe is a lie. The threads of the story fray and spread leaving you with a sense of mild discomfort as your characters world crumbles around him. Just when it seems that you AND the main character cant take anymore the story slams back together in a coherent reality which is nothing like the one that you started with. The film handles this format quite well. As Arctors world slipped into oblivion I felt his disillusionment and discomfort, it may have even been stronger had I not known the reality that was forthcoming.
My only complaint with the film would be the injected humor. They handle it quite well and it even works most of the time. However I did feel that it detracted from the overall dark and depressing tone that a Dick story should have. Not that it ruined the film. I just remember thinking "This shouldn't be funny. This is a really SAD story". Had Robert Downey Jr. not done such a good job with the humor it would have felt obtuse and added on. As it stands however, it DID work.
All in all, I believe that "A Scanner Darkly" takes its place next to "Blade Runner" as the well done Dick movies.
Now if you'll excuse me. Im going to go lay down on the couch and curl up with some Dick.
posted by JazBrown at 9:42 AM
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