Waking Life Rating: Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Ethan Hawke Julie Delpy Wiley Wiggins Hawke Complete Cast (7 total)

Waking Life Reviews

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absolutely brilliant film from austin
okay, i truly love this movie, every aspect of it! notwithstanding the great animation (each segment of the film being animated from real-life footage by dozens of separate artists), the premise of the film as a lucid dream is simply awsome. i myself have only had a handful of lucid dreams so far though the movie did indeed inspire my latest one! and it's encouraged me to start 'dreaming' more seriously nowadays.

anyways back to the dvd. it's chock-full of nifty extras. first off there are 3 commentary tracks, each for a separate aspect of the film. the first one if regarding the animation process and is basically all of the animators (20+) talking about their segments, why they chose them and how they chose to animate them. very interesting but mainly technical stuff so not for the faint-hearted. next is the great commentary track with director richard linklater and cast members. this is my favorite one because hearing hero wiley wiggins on the track just makes you fall in love with him, he's so sweet! third up is a text commentary (i.e. subtitles over the film) which is incredibly fascinating and regards the ideas and philosophies the people wiley's character encounters throughout the film are speaking of. take note though that the subtitles are incredibly long and run by really fast so if you want to indulge in the explanations you'll have to have your finger on the pause button throghout the film to be able to catch everything.

the deleted animated scenes are nice as are the other animated shorts bob sabiston and linklater had made that are included in the dvd (it is a great dvd after all!), and you can catch a glimpse of the real-live action by looking at selected live action takes as well. the featurette is nice and the animation tutorial is incredibly technical and therefore not really engrossing, and finally the trailers are a nice way of seeing how the plot of a movie can be warped entirely by (most probably) hollywood suits to fool people into going to see a movie which is totally different.

this is one movie you'll be watching again and again throughout your life!

love it or leave it
Here's a film explicitly for independant,open minded, critical thinkers. I've never seen as many people leave a theatre as during the first third of this movie. Now, if you enjoy a challenge, this flick functions on three levels. First, those with an eye for detail will appreciate the rotoscopic animation which is nothing short of a live action impressionism that Monet would have revelled in. There's tons of dreamy details in the background which reward multiple viewings. Secondly, the script is wall to wall with complex ideas and philosphies that you stop thinking about when you no longer have the luxery of late night chat sessions to ruminate on them. Very unlike the watered down stuff we're spoon fed in contemporary pop culture, it's a surprise to remind yourself you can still think this way without benefit of mind-altering substances. The philisophy lessons are further complicated by the urgent rythm of the dialog - each idea is like a cry for help. Finally, the overall narrative is almost impossible to distinguish if you're paying too much attention to the rest so be warned because it is there. A really good, trippy, engaging, four dimensional film. It'll frustrate you.

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