Set in a totalitarian society in a near future where America has lost the war on drugs, an undercover cop, Fred, is one of many agents hooked on the popular drug Substance D, which causes its users to develop split personalities. Fred, for instance, is also Bob, a notorious drug dealer. Along with his superior officers, Fred sets up an elaborate scheme to catch Bob and tear down his operation.
16 January 1972, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
2 September 1964, Beirut, Lebanon
25 May 1968, Seguin, Texas, USA
14 February 1973, Arkansas, USA
28 February 1972, Syracuse, New York, USA
29 July 1957, Port Arthur, Texas, USA
23 July 1961, Midland, Texas, USA
18 May 1949, Houston, Texas, USA
29 October 1971, Winona, Minnesota, USA
4 April 1965, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
11 February 1974, Dallas, Texas, USA
March 05, 2014
It is exhausting in its yammering, yes, but the very fact of its putting forth a vision of a future that's scented with bongwater, revolving around the axis of a sloppy living room, is enough to recommend it.
August 17, 2006
Wondrously attractive, all the more so for the avoidance (with one or two exceptions) of extrovert Waking Life-style set-pieces.
July 27, 2006
Mr. Linklater emerges once again as the Austin auteur par excellence, even if A Scanner Darkly is set in a ratty precinct of Orange County.
October 18, 2008
The coolest thing about the movie version of A Scanner Darkly is how very literally it takes the scanner part of that title.
July 14, 2006
Linklater's willingness to experiment ... is laudable. But I'm not sure he's reinventing animation here, or even adequately serving that older-than-children animation audience.
April 20, 2011
...not for everyone. It's a complicated film that requires patience and, most likely, subsequent viewings to appreciate the jigsaw view of control and paranoia.
March 30, 2011
In the end, it offers only the slightest of answers and the slimmest of hopes, because that is often all life offers as well. Whether anyone grasps that hope it leaves open for the audience to determine.
November 07, 2012
A Scanner Darkly is the most faithful Dick adaptation to date. Like Dick's writing, Richard Linklater's movie doesn't sweat at immersing itself in the trappings of sci-fi; it's concerned with ideas.
January 19, 2014
I got bored with the random diversions into the long-winded conversations of the drug culture.
September 19, 2010
Trippy rotoscoping is the perfect aqueous aesthetic. Unlike many Philip K. Dick adapters exchanging existentialism for explosions, Richard Linklater focuses on Dick's apprehensions about the trust, joy and freedoms at risk for the sake of progress.
September 23, 2006
As A Scanner Darkly proves, Keanu is the Coolness -- passive blankness, leaden line delivery, and all. Let's hear it for the vague blur.
July 14, 2006
The first film to capture the author's transience and his art.
