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Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, English, French, Spanish, Subtitled, Amaray Case
Set in a not-too-distant future where America has lost its "war" on drugs, Fred, an undercover cop, is one of many people hooked on the popular drug, Substance D, which causes its users to develop split personalities. Fred is obsessed with taking down Bob, a notorious drug dealer, but due to his Substance D addiction, he does not know that he is also Bob. Based on a classic novel by Philip K. Dick. Starring Keanu Reeves (Constantine, The Matrix trilogy), Academy Award-nominee and Golden Globe-winner Winona Ryder (Girl, Interupted, Mr. Deeds), Academy Award and Emmy-nominee and Golden Globe-winner Robert Downey, Jr. (Good Night, and Good Luck, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang), and Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominee and Emmy-winner Woody Harrelson (North Country, The People vs. Larry Flynt). Directed by Academy Award-nominee Richard Linklater (Before Sunset, Dazed and Confused). Filmed in live-action, and then animated using the same critically acclaimed process that Linklater used in his previous film, Waking Life.
"The casting of Reeves in the lead role is inspired..." Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader
"Utterly hypnotic. Mesmerizing and thrillingly original." Pete Hammond, Maxim
"It's the kind of movie that gets under your skin - and stays there." Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
Editor's Note
Richard Linklater's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's classic novel is a challenging, mind-bending experience that cautions about the dangers of excessive drug use as well as the government's capacity to abuse and manipulate power. Using the same interpolated rotoscoping technique that Linklater employed in 2001's WAKING LIFE, the film is an animated, trippy descent into one man's unraveling mind. Set in the not-too-distant future where a new drug, substance D, has created an epidemic, A SCANNER DARKLY charts the mental unraveling of Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves). Arctor is an undercover cop who has been assigned to track a group of individuals who include the druggily verbose Barris (Robert Downey Jr.), the hyper-intense Luckman (Woody Harrelson), the ultra-paranoid Freck (Rory Cochrane), and the beautiful Donna (Winona Ryder). As the film unfolds and Arctor finds himself abusing substance D in order to maintain his faade, his mind begins to spin out of control, to the point where he doesn't know what's real and what isn't. Eventually, the truth comes out, leaving Arctor even more numbed. Linklater's surprisingly faithful adaptation of Dick's novel blends humor, drama, and Bob Sabiston's striking animation to deliver a thought-provoking film that will leave viewers as dazed as the film's protagonist.
| Features | Audio Commentary By Keanu Reeves, Writer/Director Richard Linklater, Producer Tommy Pallotta, Author Jonathan Lethem & Philip K. Dick's Daughter Isa Dick Hackett | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Featurettes: One Summer In Austin - The Story Of Filming A Scanner Darkly & The Weight Of The Line - Animation Tales | | Interactive Menus | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | A Scanner Darkly - DVD By: Anne Gilbert - filmcritic.com DVD Reviews Published on: 12/8/2006 5:54 PM | |
Linklater returns to the same technique once again (and for the last time, from what he has said, due to rampant production difficulties) for a much more literal acid trip. Based on the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name, A Scanner Darkly is a feature-length PSA on the evils of drugs and the potentially-as-damaging efforts to ferret them out of society....read the full review |
| A Scanner Darkly By: Rafe Telsch - Cinema Blend DVD Reviews Published on: 12/23/2006 7:45 PM | | Drama is exactly what A Scanner Darkly is. Despite a vaguely futuristic setting (seven years in the future really isn't that far, is it') and advertising that sometimes makes the film appear to be an animated Matrix tale, the film bears little resemblance to traditional science fiction (although you have to love the irony that Substance "D" is a red pill, continuing the science fiction idea that you should always question the consequences of swallowing any red pill)....read the full review |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 4/15/2008 |
| Running Time: 100 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2006 | | Catalog ID: 59417 | | UPC: 00012569594173 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Available Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | Premiere
4 stars out of 4 -- "One doesn't leave the movie with a mind blown by visual bedazzlement but with a soul shattered by the profound sense of tragedy Linklater and company so beautifully put across." 07/01/2006 p.72Rolling Stone
3 stars out of 5 -- "Embedded in the visionary headtrip of A SCANNER DARKLY is a hotly political call to arms." 07/13/2006 p.125 Box Office
3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he animation is at once startlingly realistic and surreal, conveying the story's heightened atmosphere of paranoia." 07/01/2006 p.60 New York Times
"Mr. Linklater uses the animation technique called rotoscoping to translate Mr. Dick's worldview, mostly to fine expressive effect." 07/07/2006 p.E10 Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "Linklater's skewed sensibilities interlock lovingly with Dick's paranoid sci-fry..." 09/01/2006 p.39 Sight and Sound
"[T]his feature-length hallucination of a flick pulsates with enticing contradictions and wayward logic." 09/01/2006 p.68 Uncut
4 stars out of 4 -- "[O]ne of cinema's funniest, most frightening, and ultimately most moving meditations on the chemically altered life." 09/01/2006 p.116 Film Comment
Ranked #12 in Film Comment's "20 Best Films Of 2006." 01/01/2007 p.36 ReelViews 7 of 10
If ever there was a movie more destined to become a cult phenomenon, I don't know if I can name it. Combine the name of the novel's author with the subject matter and the stylistic choices made by director Richard Linklater in bringing it to the screen, and it's a safe bet that A Scanner Darkly has no mainstream appeal. Unlike Ridley Scott (Blade Runner), Steven Spielberg (Minority Report), and Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall), Linklater has chosen not to massage the story to make it more accessible. Not only has he remained largely faithful to the source material, but he has distanced himself from the majority of movie-goers by employing rotoscoping, transforming live action performances into animated ones by hand-tracing each frame of film. - James Berardinelli
Reel.com 9 of 10
"You're either on it, or you haven't tried it," states one its of adherents in Richard Linklater's visually stunning, darkly comic adaptation of Philip K. Dick's cult sci-fi novel, A Scanner Darkly. Linklater's second experiment in rotoscope animation after 2001's Waking Life, a meditation on philosophy, the new film is a perfect match of style and content...This is a Linklater film, which means pacing is slack, to the detriment of the film as a whole. Most of his movies suffer from that, with his approach to editing and structure being lackadaisical. In this case, the film slows in some places, nearly to a halt. It's frustrating, but wait it out. The whole is worth it; it's a grand and elegant portrait of paranoia and malfeasance set amongst society's seedy underbelly. - Pam Grady
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