A Scanner Darkly

“Orange County, California, in the near future: Anyone who takes the so-called drug ‘D’ loses all touch with reality and develops multiple personalities. ‘D’ has taken over the country; the government is powerless and has the population spied on by undercover police officers. Even the policeman Bob has become addicted to the substance (…). As he wears a state-of-the-art camouflage suit, his true identity remains a secret – and so he is tasked with spying not only on his friends, but also on himself (…). Adapting Philip K. Dick’s enigmatic stories for the screen cannot be an easy task. In A Scanner Darkly, Richard Linklater once again employs the rotoscoping technique he last used in Waking Life, thereby distancing himself from any established science fiction visual style. The plot is simply beyond any criticism: multi-layered, varied, intelligent and surprising. What is therefore interesting about A Scanner Darkly is the question of whether it makes sense to shoot a film – especially one featuring well-known actors – only to ‘paint over’ it afterwards – and it does.” (Viennale, Tom Maurer, Oct 2006)