Sunday, September 2, 2007

Waking Life



Yesterday, I saw a movie that really intrigued me. It was so different from any other movie I've ever seen. It asked questions and let its characters ramble on about the depths of life--something foreign to most films.

The film looks to answer the question: Are we sleep-walking through our waking life or wake-walking through our dreams?

Yes, it was confusing.

Yes, I still don't know what it means.

But aren't those the best kinds of movies, the ones that you can watch over and over again to continuously figure out the meaning, the deeper meaning that has something to do with your own life?

This movie, Waking Life, asked many questions about life, and introduced various concepts of life (particularly about dreaming) that are, perhaps, taboo or "deep," but they're not too far-fetched to scare anyone away. You might have even thought about it before at some point too.

Waking Life is different from most movies you'll see, first because it's cartoon-like, and second because it really doesn't have a plot. Each scene jumps between a main character basically speaking to various characters who don't really connect in any way at all. I think there might be a connection or some meaning, but I haven't figured it out yet. Maybe someone out these has and can enlighten me. I'm in the mood for enlightenment.

The director, Richard Linklater, who also inserts himself as a character at the end of the movie, has written and directed other films that are very, very good and worth seeing. Exmaples: Dazed and Confused, A Scanner Darkly, Fast Food Nation, Before Sunset, Before Sunrise, School of Rock, etc.

Advice: Gotta see this movie. Also, see A Scanner Darkly, even though it's also a bit bizarre and cartoon-oriented, but it does have a plot. If drugs or the invasion of personal privacy from the government interests you, try it.

In my next series of blog posts, I am going to attempt to figure out various quotations from the movie via blog rant. I hope that you can all help me as I try to wrap my head around some of these loaded questions and quotations.

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