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: Sublime and Strange and Profoundly Intelligent
Summary: 5 Stars
I really love this movie. If I had been told this was an animated film before I watched it, I orobably would not have watched it. I am so glad then that I didn't know. The skill and artisanal craft with which this movie is wrought justifies itself. The viewer is so effectively invited into the visual universe of this beautiful move, any ambivalence about the form of the movie is replaced by a thoughtfulness that in some places is insightful and other places windy nonsense. I liked, for example, the musicians and I loved the music. I hated the guy on the bridge, that "Speed" guy phony New York guru who has captured Richard Linklater's attention more than once. All told, this is a careful and moving film.
It's not possible to capture the surprising beauty of Waking Life, so there is little profit from knowing anything about the movie before watching it. Without force-feeding you some wierd alter-reality or worse, a programme involving some version of "everyone creates his own reality," this film invites you to reconsider the boundaries of our encounter with objective reality, and our ability or inability to recognize it while it's happening. If you must know more, read the Amazon review for description, then watch it twice at least. It would be an essential video at three times the price.
Movie Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
In some ways this film is a companion piece to Linklater's earlier film "Before Sunrise." In "Before Sunrise," Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy wander around Vienna all night, having a philosophical discussion about life, the universe, and everything. "Waking Life" is similar--basically its protagonist, played by Wiley Wiggins from "Dazed and Confused," has encounters with a wide variety of unusual people, all of whom explain their personal philosphies to him. The question is, how much of this is a dream, and how much is real? Some of the characters in "Waking Life" are more interesting than others, but on the whole the format of the movie works very well with the amazing animation--live-action footage was drawn over and otherwise messed with to create a film with fascinating and varied visuals. (How was this not nominated for the best animated film Oscar? A travesty.) I was especially happy that Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy appear again, picking up where they left off on a conversation from "Before Sunrise" whose implications have nagged at me since I first saw that film several years ago! Everybody should see "Waking Life," and while you're at it, see "Tape" as well--another strikingly original Linklater film released in 2001.Movie Review: Wake up and smell the insights
Summary: 5 Stars
Richard Linklater could just be the spokesperson for the twenty-somethings of the early 21st century. In an industry that mostly accepts life as it is and turns to cheap sex jokes, Linklater asks the Big Questions and dwells on real human issues. "Waking Life" is no exception. Similar in plot to his debut "Slacker," the film is about 100% more philosophical, with characters talking about subjects like free will, evolution, reincarnation, God, and dreaming (lots of dreaming!). Yes, there is a LOT of talking in "Waking Life," probably about three times as much as your average film. Thankfully, Linklater keeps things interesting with the amazing animation technique he uses throughout the movie. With a different animator for each scene, "Waking Life" never gets tedious. In fact, it makes one anticipate what new and otherworldly images they will see next.
Probably one of the most intelligent movies you will ever see, "Waking Life" is the kind of movie you invite your intellectual friends over and, paper and pen in hands, watch with open-minds and a time for discussion. Try it sometime; you just might learn something that will change your life.
Movie Review: Glorious
Summary: 5 Stars
"Waking Life" is so full of ideas, one flowing to the next, it really does feel like some sort of lucid dream. The animation adds to the overall vitality of the film. It jumps off the screen, challenging the viewer to wrestle with these questions, to take responsibility for his/her existence for at least a couple of hours. There is a sense of urgency bordering on desperation as the dream continues and the search for a center, for some kind of clear understanding begins to seem endless.There is so much here to absorb, you can really loose yourself completely in the film. At one point, we watch two men discussing the nature of film as an art form (I can't remember who they were) and then the perspective widens and we see that they are, themselves, on a movie screen in a theater with our main character as its sole occupant, which makes sense since it only exists in his mind - in his dream. Of course, we are also in a theater watching the film, adding another level to this already multi-layered context.
After seeing this movie, I felt thoroughly invigorated. I wish there were more films like this.
Movie Review: This is a good film
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read a lot of the reviews here and I've found that most are either glowing praise or a stiff kick to the teeth.
I'm more on the "glowing praise" side of the fence because if you can deal with the dizzying animation, maybe it'll get you thinking about something you haven't really thought about before. If that happens, you've discovered something better than 99% of the existing films and tv.
For some reason, a lot of the negative reviewers seem to forget that fact.
What's interesting to me is that the vast majority of the really negative reviews accuse Linklater of being pompous and psuedo-enlightened or what have you while simultaneously spewing their own philosophical elitism AND avoiding the arduous task of recommending a better alternative.
That's kind of like someone abnoxiously telling me how qualified they are to tell me how bad my Pepsi tastes without telling me where to find a Coke....or RC.
This film is not for everyone but for those who "get it" to some small degree, it will kickstart your imagination.