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Waking Life
Actors: Louis Black, Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg, Charles Gunning, and Ethan Hawke
Rated: R (Restricted)
Retail Price (not our price): $9.98
Release Date: 2002-05-07
Theatrical Release Date: 2001
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Run Time: 100 minutes
Format: Array
Format: Anamorphic, Animated, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, NTSC
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Discs: 1


Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):

1) Amazon.com
Waking Life is a film that never settles down. Or maybe it never wakes up. Regardless, Richard Linklater's animated meditation seems to strike a perfect balance between the plotless meanderings of Slacker and the unquenchable knowledge-seeking of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. Any way you look at it, this is a weird, original movie. As he attempts to figure out what separates dreams from reality, the protagonist (Dazed and Confused's Wiley Wiggins) hears an earful from everyone he stumbles upon. Ramblings range from the scholarly (Linklater's former college professor Robert C. Solomon gives a monologue) to the banal (of which there are plenty). Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Steven Soderbergh, and Adam Goldberg all get animated cameos, basically playing themselves. The dream-centered dialogues eventually grow mind-numbing, but that's OK; the animation steals the show. Each frame of the movie, which was first shot with live actors, was painted over, and the process renders a distorted and trippy collage of sights and sounds. Linklater's film is ultimately quite poignant, but, as with any good journey, you'll need to sit through some fairly tedious moments before reaching the destination. --Jason Verlinde

2) Description
From the director of Slacker and Dazed and Confused comes one of the most imaginative animated features ever made. This funny, ingenious film, which Rolling Stone Magazine calls "nothing short of amazing," explores the fascinating question: "Are we sleep-walking through our waking state or wake- walking through our dreams"? Join Wiley Wiggins as he searches for answers to lifes most important questions in a world that may or may not be reality in the "most visually alive movie of the year." (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times)

Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5

1) Waking Life   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
A movie that looks at the more interesting, magical (for lack of a better word) side of life.

2) Aesthetically and intellectually intruiging   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
If you're into philosophy and really trippy movies, this movie is for you. I loved it.

3) Good film   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
I loved it! This film is very intence exspecialy when in a state of mind that is altered with drugs!

4) "Waking Life" Transcends   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
This film is a visual journey through a collage of philosophical discussions. Filmed in usual fashion, the frames were then animated over to create a surreal look that immediately catches your attention and interest. Initially, that is why I watched the movie. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is not simply eye-candy, but one of the deepest films I have ever watched.Waking Life is a visually-engaging crash course in existentialism. You are transported into the main-character's psychadelic world, filled with wobbly buildings, floating furniture, and people that twist, bend, and morph according to their emotions and thoughts. You follow along with him as he explores his surroundings and attempts to understand, as you attempt the same, what is going on.During the journey, the main character is approached by different individuals who jump into monologues on their theories of life, death, dreams, evolution, collective consciousness (a theory which I had come up with as a child, and was quite excited and intrigued to hear it discussed in a film), political blindfolding, social interaction, and more. The ideas portrayed in each conversation are nothing short of spectacular, however the film suffers slightly at times from the rapid, monotone speaking style of some of the actors, who obviously missed the point of the lines they were given to read (had they actually grasped the purpose of their roles, which is to inspire the viewer with the presentation of new ideas, they would have spoken slower and with more emphasis and clarity, rather than spitfiring their lines in order to confuse and impress). I was disappointed by the vocal delivery of some of the actors in this aspect, but the philosophy contained in the movie is, to anyone who is willing to follow along and openly question the substance of the ideas, potentially life-changing.Everyone will take something different away from this film. It tackles some of the deepest questions you can find in existential philosophy, and actually seems to answer many of them. The conundrum, of course, is that with every answer you reach, you will find yourself with more questions.If you like philosophy, complete originality, and films that challenge your thinking, you will definately enjoy this one. Excluding the minor weaknesses of some of the poor line-deliveries of some of the actors, Waking Life is one of the best films I've ever seen. It transcends entertainment and approaches enlightenment.

5) But is it?   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
Waking, I mean?This spectacular animation leaves me with two conflicting impressions. The first is that it's among the most innovative animations I've ever seen. The technique looks like non-photorealistic renderings of actual films, as was also done in "A Scanner Darkly." The graphic style works well and consistently, but it's the background objects that give this film its dreamlike quality: the feeling that nothing is solid, nothing can be trusted. Sofas don't sit stolidly in the living room. Instead, they bob like corks in a creek, even with someone sitting on them. A driveway doesn't sit quietly where it's told; it encroaches on the lawn, then retreats, while nervous shrubs patrol the narrow perimeters of their assigned places. Only the people seem solid and fixed.At least, until they talk. Internally, they wobble hollowly, a psychic echo of the insubstantial world around them. Only the protagonist seems real, a seeker for something he can't even name.Although it appears to present philosophical depth, the depth is only a veneer of breathless, rambling exposition. What is real? What is a dream? How can you tell? It reminds me of sophomore year, but without the alcohol.That takes nothing away from its visual importance. Even if the actual words spoken as philosophical diatribes don't amount to much, the protagonist's trek through a mundane but unstable urban landscape carries an emotional truth. It's the sense of only oneself as real, in a world so unreliable that even stone can't be trusted to be solid.-- wiredweird