Ink Blotting - A Scanner Darkly

Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 at 12:00 AM

A Scanner Darkly

This film is a rare case. It is one of those few movies where I left the film disgruntled and unimpressed while those around me chortled and cavorted about the special effects (what was so special about them?) and the dialogue (80% of which was nonessential, non-sequitor, meandering drug induced prattling). Dial me bored. I was more intrigued by the design of the building we saw the film in than actually watching the majority of the tripe flitting by on screen, and I am not a fan of architecture.

Critics, being critics and therefore trying to be critical of the film are saying the exact same thing as every other critic. Irony in this is those critics that hate the film say such things as "Just because the movie is about people on drugs, I shouldn't feel like I am on drugs while watching it." While critics who doubtlessly will entreat others to watch the film state that it is "food for thought and also a treat to the senses." Which, to mildly sum up is to say that half the critics enjoyed the stylization of the film while the other half didn't.

Several critics lament the acting, many others revel in the choices the director made to go with a cast that personally have a storied and muddied past in relation to drugs. There are points that the goings-on within the film delight and intrigue, especially the banter waged back and forth between the supporting cast, but that is all, it doesn't lead to enlightenment or advancement of the plot. The humorous dialogue is secondary to the course of the film, though by the end it seems to have been all the movie was about.

Why fill a film with so many hooks and intriguing concepts and fail to utilize them? If the movie is a wry dissertation on drug use, fear in America, reality and who's truly in control then where is the concluding thought? Philip K. Dick stories always manage to come to a conclusion whether dramatically or intellectually - but what fails in A Scanner Darkly is the achievement of an answer. Perhaps I haven't found it - that it looms dark and ominous for so many other critics who enjoyed the film but just beyond the horizon for me.

With A Scanner Darkly, therefore, it is highly recommended to ignore all reviews and either see the movie if the title, rotoscoping, worthiness of having the name Philip K. Dick involved, and actors intrigues you. If none of those things catch your eye - you will doubtlessly hate much of what the other loons are raving about.

Kyle Gould is a University of Calgary Graduate in English devoutly trying to make the 25,000 dollar piece of parchment not just a glorified ink blot. Currently it would serve better as a Rorschach test. Feel free to throw some ink his way at wkkgould@hotmail.com.