Waking Life
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.28 You Save: $5.70 (57%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.99 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Waking Life
Movie Review: People HATE what they don't understand.
Summary: 5 Stars
The main objections that people have to this movie are two-fold:1) the dialogue is pretentious.
2) the dialogue is boring.
I will attempt to explain why they think that:
First off, the dialogue snippets are INDEED accurate. Linklater went through great pains to not only get ACCURACY, but more importantly, BREVITY so that a WIDE SCOPE OF IDEAS could be crammed into ONE MOVIE. That means only a FEW MINUTES for each POINT OF VIEW.
Just think about the ENORMOUS task of breaking down Sartre's 900 Page, Nobel Prize winning masterpiece down to a 12 minute monologue - trying to retain the BREADTH of his meaning, and without giving a bastardized representation. That means that some fancy words and dialogue have to be ASSUMED on the audience's part [SORRY, no time to explain EVERYTHING - we've only got a few minutes of airtime], and that's where the PRETENTIOUSNESS comes from. that's what people are COMPLAINING ABOUT, since they DIDN'T UNDERSTAND IT - it all went TOO FAST. Well here's the thing: it's not possible for most of us to understand it.
Unless you've read the text before watching the movie, and 95% of us haven't, you're not going to know what's going on. It is DIFFICULT ENOUGH to understand Sartre in an entire SEMESTER of lectures, let alone to make full sense of it in a cartoon movie.
Still, I think Linklater did an excellent job considering the obstacles against him. The portion that he tried to show was a great choice: people misunderstand existentialism to be about DEPRESSION AND HOPELESSNESS. Sartre did not want that. He said that **WE** must TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for our own actions, up to US to make our own lives better.
Your answers to life are NOT in this movie. But what you will find is the affirmation that you are NOT ALONE when you have these thoughts about life. Because we don't discuss these things at work, or talk to our family and friends too often about it, doesn't mean that they aren't important to us. These are the thoughts that are in the periphery of our minds in passing moments, or the ones that keep us awake at night when we're alone - but we aren't alone. Other people out there THINK TOO.
DON'T BUY THIS MOVIE IF:
1) if you're not constantly questioning the purpose of life, or if you think you've got it all figured out.
2) if you think that PRETENTIOUSNESS people are the ones that talk about things that YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND...
Because the truth of the matter is... if you truly KNOW something about these people, then you will LOVE this movie. anyone can easily REVERSE NAMEDROP [dropping names to give the FALSE impression that they're knowledgeable, only to DISMISS THEM]. The concepts of some of these thinkers are very hard to grasp and it's EASIER for people to just call them boring or pretentious. Just because you don't understand it, doesn't mean it's GOOD, but it CERTAINLY doesn't mean it's BAD either.
Most of you who didn't like it, i'm afraid have missed the point [Just take a look at your horrendous spelling skills as one rubric of intelligence].
Movie Review: Appeals to the Thinking Person in an Artsy Way
Summary: 5 Stars
This film, Linklater's "The Waking Life," very much falls in the vein of some of the following: Pink Floyd's The Wall, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Winged Migration, Radiohead, Ray Bradbury, Phillip Dick, Rush and a college philosophy class. If you are confused...don't be. Let me explain.
There is a quote from the movie that kind of captured what I thought about the film. The main character, played by Wiley Wiggins from Linklater's "Dazed and Confused," some time in the film is talking about this dream that he is experiencing (and we are spectators of) and says something to the effect of, "This dream is wholly unprecedented. It's trying to do something monumental...a fundamental life change." I realize that quote is severely paraphrased but it kind of sums up my feelings about the movie. It really came across to me as unprecedented and very original.
Let me give you a disclaimer, this film is not going to be for everybody...in fact it's probably not going to be for most. It's one that appeals to my taste. I know my wife dismissed it after the first 5 minutes...as being ohhh...another one of those films that only my husband likes. You may feel the dialogue is slow and overly intellectualized. The overlay of animation on top of real-life shot film may not be your cup of tea, may not be your bag baby. But...though the film is very non-traditional with one character that basically walks around encountering all sorts of other characters for brief periods each having a speaking role about the meaning of life, the meaning of dreams, philosophy and exploding burritos, the film is not without a plot, not without characters, not without humor. You end up very much caring about what is going to happen to the main character as he alternately enjoys being in a dream-trance like state, and is horrified and frustrated at not being able to come out of it, to move on to the waking life.
Ultimately, the movie was fascinating and where the ongoing dialogue didn't hold your attention, you have the wonderful artwork of animation to behold and wonder at. Just like a fascinating college lecture, you don't stay engaged listening for the full 50 minutes, but what does connect, connects in a powerful way.
If you like traditional movies and you like more linear plots, I'd say stay away from this one. But if you, like me, get into "deep thoughts" and enjoy seeing creativity in a unique and original way, you absolutely will not want to miss waking up to "The Waking Life." The extras are packed on the DVD too so it's truly a value purchase.
--MMW
Movie Review: you expect something? god doesn't deserve to die.
Summary: 5 Stars
If I would have died, this film wouldn't exist for me. How could one want to die? After seeing this, you'll never. Or no, that's wrong. "Waking Life" marvels at death-life connection, the most important thing, that we can know about only as far as we can know knowledge itself. For death may be the most important part of life. But maybe not. God is dreaming this world, all of us, everything, just once. And does she suspect she's dreaming? Does she believe in us? She gets to see us fly in our dreams. She gets to make our faces and places. You will go so far into this movie that you'll never get outta it. And that's the way life should be. Nothing is ever gone. It's all, all of history, here now, in attenuated, if abstract, form. The potential to reverse time. Why not? How can we say the world is causally closed? That there can't be the metaphysical soul, because our brains are physical, and we know all about it, we can theoretically perfectly explain-something that isn't a thing can't make me write these words. And so. We're artificial intelligences. What is natural? The natural is the mental universe-mentality with rules. Why would particles attract each other? They have nothing better to do. They are part of god. Who could be dead, but again, who would die when the best part's just beginning? True pleasure is not to be avoided. Anyone with a real choice wouldn't choose pain. Because truth is true. In a way nothing is false. Imagine the birth of god-floating in a void. Not so scary, if you try it yourself. What was the neuronal configuration of god's birth-mind? A hundred billion neurons in my brain, four billion years of "evolution"-twenty-five new ones per year, wired in in the sublime insanity of mind, consciousness which is the most amazing thing, possible. So I say. Given my somewhat limited knowledge. There are people who know everything. Or who know people who know everything. Linklater's film is about waking up. Wake up and scream, metaphorically, or really. Only you can know if you're real. Only you can tell us what you'd tell us. Nothing is ever the same as anything else. All electrons aren't just one. There are multitudes. And we invite each other. Or we automatically fear each other. I don't think people are too lazy to live. I think it can be too hard. Unless. You know the trick. The first move you learn, after which you're addicted. It's your life that's been treating you so and so, and so take me any way, how long is a day, we learn to pay, for which we can play. say the secret words that god would say.Movie Review: "Waking Life" Transcends
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is a visual journey through a collage of philosophical discussions. Filmed in usual fashion, the frames were then animated over to create a surreal look that immediately catches your attention and interest. Initially, that is why I watched the movie. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is not simply eye-candy, but one of the deepest films I have ever watched.
Waking Life is a visually-engaging crash course in existentialism. You are transported into the main-character's psychadelic world, filled with wobbly buildings, floating furniture, and people that twist, bend, and morph according to their emotions and thoughts. You follow along with him as he explores his surroundings and attempts to understand, as you attempt the same, what is going on.
During the journey, the main character is approached by different individuals who jump into monologues on their theories of life, death, dreams, evolution, collective consciousness (a theory which I had come up with as a child, and was quite excited and intrigued to hear it discussed in a film), political blindfolding, social interaction, and more. The ideas portrayed in each conversation are nothing short of spectacular, however the film suffers slightly at times from the rapid, monotone speaking style of some of the actors, who obviously missed the point of the lines they were given to read (had they actually grasped the purpose of their roles, which is to inspire the viewer with the presentation of new ideas, they would have spoken slower and with more emphasis and clarity, rather than spitfiring their lines in order to confuse and impress). I was disappointed by the vocal delivery of some of the actors in this aspect, but the philosophy contained in the movie is, to anyone who is willing to follow along and openly question the substance of the ideas, potentially life-changing.
Everyone will take something different away from this film. It tackles some of the deepest questions you can find in existential philosophy, and actually seems to answer many of them. The conundrum, of course, is that with every answer you reach, you will find yourself with more questions.
If you like philosophy, complete originality, and films that challenge your thinking, you will definately enjoy this one. Excluding the minor weaknesses of some of the poor line-deliveries of some of the actors, Waking Life is one of the best films I've ever seen. It transcends entertainment and approaches enlightenment.
Movie Review: An Incredible Amount of Depth for a Film
Summary: 5 Stars
Almost invariably, "Waking Life," the 2001 animated film from Richard Linklater is described as `original.' For once, this oft-overused moniker is accurate: there isn't anything quite like this movie. It advertises itself as a series of philosophical vignettes, which range all over the subject spectrum but are usually united by a common thread of meaning: that of dreams and the reality of the `dream world.'A film based upon that premise could easily fall into the highschool-discussion/drug-induced-nonsense level of discourse, but "Waking Life" plunges headlong into the fray without batting an eye. Fairly early in the film, pretentious philosophy is dismissed with a nice rebuttal to the sophomoric question: "What if you're just a construct of my dream, and exist only in my mind?" "Well, then I'm as real as anything else." And that's the starting point for a meditation on the meaning (if any) of dreams, and some of the dreamlike things people encounter in their daily lives.
"Waking Life" is also animated, using a pretty unique form of animation: each scene was shot, and then "drawn over" by animation artists in a variety of styles, from expressionist art to nearly-photographic digital renderings, depending on the mood of each scene. The result is something that resembles an acid trip or a hallucination, where tables of restaurant patrons float above the ground, faces change while moustaches stay the same, and the background is in a near-constant state of flux. It can get nauseating after a while, but the overall effect is subtle enough not to draw attention from the content of the film, which is a rare quality for so-called "art" films. It's almost a crime that "Jimmy Neutron" was nominated for "Best Animated Film" while "WL" was not.
Because of these varied qualities, "Waking Life" isn't for everyone, and certainly gets a "rent-if-before-you-buy-it" caveat. The DVD presentation is as good as one could want: an anamorphic widescreen presentation with crisp colors and a 5.1 soundtrack (not that philosophical conversation requires dynamic sound), and a nice helping of extras. Don't write "Waking Life" off as something smart people (or those who pretend to be smart) will enjoy and yack about - it's just not the average, everyday film and requires an attentive mind and (perhaps) multiple viewings to fully enjoy. For those willing to take the plunge with an open mind, "Waking Life" is a rewarding film experience.
Final Grade: A