A Scanner Darkly - 7

Based on the novel by Philip K. Dick (more famous for the adaptations of his work made in films like Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall, Paycheck, and Open Your Eyes- which eventually became Vanilla Sky), Richard Linklater (Slacker, Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise, Waking Life, Tape, School of Rock, Before Sunset, Bad News Bears, Fast Food Nation) writes this screenplay about a narcotics agent on the search for the source of a highly addictive drug called Substance D. As he soon gets addicted himself it leaves him wondering what reality actually is, and the possibility of losing him"self." It raises questions of surveillance, addiction, truth, and the human condition. I don't want to give too much of the film away other than to say see it- the film is both comic and tragic and does both well. It is in Linklater's famous animation-over-live-action-filming (later: in layman terms that's rotoscoping, yeah, I guessed that too) technique that he used in Waking Life. It also features great performances by Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr, Woody Harrelson, and Rory Cochrane. In my top ten for 2006.