A SCANNER DARKLY

Lastnight Nate, Cameron, and I went out to celebrate Cameron becoming a man (he turned 30). We had some dinner at the Porcupine Pub & Grille at the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon. Coincidentally, we celebrated Nate's 30th birthday here, too.

The food was delicious and we actually managed to avoid talking about work while we ate. This is a bigger achievement then you may realize since Nate and Cameron work with many of the same people and projects.

Anyway, after we ate we decided to go see the 2006 film adaptation of Phillip K. Dick's, A Scanner Darkly. Set in Orange County, A Scanner Darkly is a semi-autobiographical story about drug abuse, unrequited love, and police surveillance.

The truly unique detail of this film is that it was created using a process called rotoscoping. First shot in live-action, the footage was then painted over, with attention to stylistic consistency — a lengthy undertaking that caused the film to miss its initial September 2005 release date.
This movie starred Keanu Reeves (his poor, mechanical acting style is nearly undetectable with the rotoscoping), Winona Ryder, Woody Harrleson and Robert Downy, Jr. A Scanner Darkly was directed by Richard Linklater.

If I had to rate the film (1-5, 5 being the best), I'd give it a 4. The rotoscoping never got boring to watch and the subject matter, though concepted int he 70s, really held water today.

Snapps for Phillip K. Dick!