Barnes & Noble

Visual flair and deep thoughts distinguish Richard Linklater's hypnotic animated film Waking Life. More of an elaborative concept than a story, the film follows a young man (Wiley Wiggins) as he drifts from conversation to conversation with a series of eccentrically brilliant characters, all the while never sure whether he's awake or dreaming. This surreal landscape populated by oddballs and passionate thinkers is very much a reprise of Linklater's breakthrough film, Slacker. But here the proceedings are shot on digital video and subsequently animated using a technique devised by Bob Sabiston, which adds dreamy brilliance to the images and affords each scene a distinctive vision. The eclectic parade of characters includes members of Linklater's family, various offbeat friends and intellectuals, and actors from his previous films (including Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, who reprise their roles from Before Sunrise). Each character's idiosyncratic charm keeps the film's dreamy discourse as lively as its animation, and the outcome is a strikingly original film that is by turns amusing, disconcerting, and mystically provocative. Waking Life is one of two films Linklater shot on digital video in 2001; the second, the chamber drama Tape, stars Hawke, Uma Thurman, and Robert Sean Leonard. Gregory Baird

All Movie Guide

Richard Linklater returned to the semi-improvised approach and philosophical themes of his debut feature Slacker while embracing a new and groundbreaking visual technology in his sixth feature film, Waking Life. Linklater and cameraman Tommy Pallotta shot the film on location in Austin, TX, using digital video equipment. Linklater and digital animator Bob Sabiston then used newly developed computer software to transform the images through a process called "interpolated rotoscoping"; the result merges the naturalism of live action with a stylized look that resembles a cartoon or a painting in motion. Waking Life's flexible, non-narrative approach follows a young man (Wiley Wiggins) who arrives in Austin and hitches a ride with a stranger, who engages him in a conversation about rarely considered facets of existentialism. As the visitor drifts through the city, he encounters a variety of people and finds himself absorbing their views on art, philosophy, society, and numerous other issues of contemporary life. Linklater's cast is dotted with well-known actors (Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg, Nicky Katt) and pop-culture notables (filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, Martin Scorsese associate Steven Prince, comic Louis Black), alongside a large number of relatively little-known players. Waking Life received its world premiere at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival; Linklater's next film, Tape, was also screened at the same festival. Mark Deming

New York Times

So verbally dexterous and visually innovative that you can't absorb it unless you have all your wits about you. And even then, you may want to see it again to enjoy its subtle humor and warm humanity. Stephen Holden

Chicago Sun-Times

The movie is like a cold shower of bracing, clarifying ideas. We feel cleansed of boredom, indifference, futility and the deadening tyranny of the mundane. Roger Ebert

Product Details

• UPC: 024543040651
• Source: 20TH CENTURY FOX
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Theatre Wide-Screen (1.85.1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Español
• Subtitles: English, Français
• Time: 1:40:00
• Sales Rank: 13,189

Features:

DVD MENU