FREAK FILMS: WAKING LIFE

Although Richard Linklater has recently done more commercial films like School Of Rock, his roots clearly lie in the realm of Freak Films. For those of us (such as myself) who enjoy hearing people philosophize about the meaning of life, movies like the recent Coffee And Cigarettes are intoxicating. Sadly, however, for many people, the idea of a film containing nothing but talking heads is not interesting-- they need tits and explosions. For those bored with the idea of watching talking heads for two hours, Linklater has something special for you-- the hallucinogenically animated Waking Life.
Following in the footsteps of other Linklater films like Slacker (1991)-- a collection of random conversations-- or Before Sunrise (1995)-- a story that asks, \"If you only have one day to love someone, what happens next?\"-- Waking Life follows a man trying to determine the difference between waking life and dreams. If this were just normal celluloid, Waking Life would be a beautiful, existential film. But by adding the experimental animation to the content of the screenplay, Waking Life is pushed even further upwards into the realms of greatness. The animation goes from tight rotoscoping of filmed characters to abstract, expressionistic exaggerations used to illustrate the concepts and ideas of what the people are talking about.
When you first begin to watch Waking Life, it is overwhelming. The floating backgrounds and heavy concepts threaten to overload your senses. When I first saw this on the big screen, I got a headache and a slight seasickness for a short while until I adjusted to it all. But the deeper you go, the more amazed you will be.
If you’ve ever stayed up late into the night debating the meaning of life with your friends, if you are more interested in questions than answers, in improving your life and the way that you experience it by looking both forward and backward, then you will find Waking Life an absolutely unforgettable masterpiece.