A Scanner Darkly

Posted on 25 januari 2024 by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Richard Linklater
Written by: Philip K. Dick (novel), Richard Linklater (screenplay)
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson

Year / Country: 2006, USA
Running Time: 100 mins.

A Scanner Darkly, Richard Linklater’s adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s semi-autobiographical novel about a futuristic undercover agent who gets addicted to the drug ‘Substance D’ during a drug epidemic in Orange County in 1994, opens with Rory Cockrane’s junkie character being tormented by bugs that keep respawning on his body and face. It sets the tone of the film right away. This movie, set in a near-future dystopia and police state, seems to be mostly about the frightening downsides of a drug habit.

Typical for Dick, it is also about losing one’s identity as heavy users of Substance D, like main character Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves), typically develop a serious brain impairment. The movie was shot digitally and then animated using rotoscoping technique. This visual style, also used in Linklater’s Waking Life, fits this movie perfectly. Apart from the police characters’ use of ‘scramble suits’, which are suits that change their appearance and voice every microsecond to hide their identity, this is not really a science fiction film. The story – of which there is not much really – is kind of hard to follow, but thanks to the terrific visuals and strong performances by the main cast it is still captivating. Robert Downey Jr. is especially on a roll here.

After The Matrix, Keanu Reeves is on another mind trip here (he literally takes a red pill at one point), but while The Matrix delivers a crystal clear concept, what A Scanner Darkly tries to do, plotwise or thematically, remains pretty much… well… in the dark. What the movie does very well though is portray the depressing hopelessness of being stuck in a community of junkies, with all the panic, pain, fear and paranoia that comes with it. It is admirable that Linklater stayed faithful to Dick’s source material, and did not try to turn it into a Hollywood movie. But maybe this is the one book of the famous sci-fi author that could have used some clarification. Now it remains quite a confusing affair, albeit a mesmerizing one.

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Biography: Richard Linklater (1960, Houston) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. Suburban culture and the passage of time are big themes in many of his movies, some of which are set during one 24-hours period, including his successful ‘Before’-trilogy with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. He is married to Christina Harrison and they have three children, including Lorelei who played a large part in Linklater’s much praised movie Boyhood.

Filmography (a selection): It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1988, short), Slacker (1990), Dazed and Confused (1993), Before Sunrise (1995), The Newton Boys (1998), Waking Life (2001), Tape (2001), School of Rock (2003), Before Sunset (2004), Fast Food Nation (2006), A Scanner Darkly (2006), Me and Orson Welles (2008), Before Midnight (2013), Boyhood (2014), Everybody Wants Some (2016), Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood (2022)

Dazed and Confused

Posted on 21 januari 2024 by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Richard Linklater
Written by: Richard Linklater
Cast: Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Matthew McConaughey, Rory Cochrane

Year / Country: 1993, USA
Running Time: 103 mins.

Richard Linklater’s masterpiece about the last day of an Austin high school in 1976. ‘A time they would never forget’, the tagline states, ‘if only they could remember.’ Indeed, these are the days of aimlessly hanging around, getting wasted, performing vandalism, having sexual experiences, falling in love, and being genuinely confused about what to do next in life. The pointlessness is the point.

The whole movie plays like a seamless stream of magical summer moments experienced by kids who have just graduated and a group of freshmen, who also intermingle as the former perform hazing rituals on the latter, but also take some of them out to party and smoke weed. There is no plot or central conflict, it is just a collection of interconnected happenings and it all feels super real and not scripted at all. That is mainly because Linklater allowed the actors to bring their own experiences to their roles.

The casting is impeccable. With their authentic performances, these young actors really bring this era to life. They are also helped by the excellent production design and soundtrack, featuring songs by a.o. Bob Dylan, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. Licensing these songs raised the budget considerably, but it definitely adds to the authenticity. Many of the young adults are played by actors who would later become stars, most notably Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich and Matthew McConaughey (for McConaughey it was his breakout role).

Linklater and his crew have created the perfect time capsule. It is like the American Gravity for the next generation. Any time you feel like experiencing this era, but also relive your own confusing high school days, put on Dazed and Confused, and it takes you right there.

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10 Reasons the Nineties’ Cinema Kicked Ass

Posted on 16 december 2023 by Jeppe Kleijngeld

I was a little young to realize what a terrific time for cinema the nineties were. Holy crap. Around forty percent of my favorite movies come from the nineties, including my number one of all time: GoodFellas. In this article, I will give you 10 reasons why the nineties kicked complete ass as a movie decade.

1. Tarantino’s Arrival
In 1992, a young film maverick silently arrived with Reservoir Dogs. Many viewers and critics were a little off-put by the violence and immoral characters, but yet loved the non-chronological storytelling, the brilliant dialogues and the awesome performances. The talent of this new writer/director named Quentin Tarantino was undeniable.

Two years later he blew critics and audiences away with his epic Pulp Fiction. Tarantino was for the nineties what Scorsese was for the seventies; a significant promise. And he delivered. The nineties saw him direct an excellent third movie, Jackie Brown (1997), and two of his screenplays were turned into memorable films: True Romance (1993) and Natural Born Killers (1994). In 1996 he also made From Dusk Till Dawn with another promising young director from Texas. Robert Rodriguez had debuted in 1992 with the low budget miracle El Mariachi which he followed up with Desperado (1995). A duo was formed…

2. It Was a Time to Thrill
The nineties was the decade of the thriller. Especially the detective versus serial killer genre flourished with The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Se7en (1995). Of course these two spawned countless imitations, but none as good. Another excellent movie in the psychopath category is Rob Reiner’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery in 1990. That movie’s villain Annie Wilkes (played by Kathy Bates) is probably even scarier than Hannibal Lecter, Buffalo Bill and John Doe combined.

The nineties also had more than its share in fantastic crime thrillers. Top examples include Brian de Palma’s Carlito’s Way (1993), Luc Besson’s Leon (1994), Michael Mann’s Heat (1995), Brian Singer’s The Usual Suspects (1995) and Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential (1997). Special mention in the Thriller department goes to Paul Verhoeven’s erotic contribution Basic Instinct (1992), an absolute classic in its genre.

3. Glory Days For the Coens
They already made an impression as independent filmmakers in the 1980’s. Both their debut Blood Simple and second feature Raising Arizona tasted like more. In the 1990’s they really became film-buffs’ favorites. Miller’s Crossing (1990) is a perfect take on Dashiell Hammett and possibly their finest crafted work. Later, this decade, they had a brilliant black comedy run with the unforgettable classics Fargo (1996) and The Big Lebowski (1998). These Coen Brothers are absolutely terrific.

4. History Can Be Fun
Sure, every period has produced great historical movies, but the nineties had a very impressive reaping in the War / History genre. Way above average to be sure. In 1990 a certain Kevin Costner brought the American frontier to the big screen with the Oscar-winning epic Dances With Wolves. It was a marvelous revitalization of the Western genre. World War 2 is also captured in several Oscar-winning pictures, most notably Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (the ultimate WWII film), but also in Saving Private Ryan (also by Spielberg), La Vita E Bella (by Roberto Benigni) and The Thin Red Line (by Terrence Malick).

Another great war story is spectacularly told in Braveheart (1995), the bloody epic that showed that Mel Gibson is a highly competent director. A number of excellent historical biographies also saw the light of day, most notably JFK (1991, Oliver Stone) and Ed Wood (1994, Tim Burton). And last but least, Titanic (1997, James Cameron) and Forrest Gump (1994, Robert Zemeckis) came out and successfully combined fictional stories with historic events.

5. Great Stand Alone Triumphs
While many masterpieces made in the nineties are part of a larger oeuvre or movement, there were also loads and loads of standalone triumphs. Movies that seemingly came out of nowhere and surprised friend and foe. Below, I picked one of my favorites of these surprises for each year of the nineties. Choosing just one was very difficult in some cases…

1990 Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton)
1991 Thelma & Louise (Ridley Scott)
1992 Hard Boiled (John Woo)
1993 Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis)
1994 The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont)
1995 Toy Story (John Lasseter)
1996 Bound (Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski)
1997 Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson)
1998 Festen (Thomas Vinterberg)
1999 Fight Club (David Fincher)

6. Harvest of Horror
O.k., so the eighties ruled in the Horror territory. That doesn’t mean the nineties sucked. What is so great about it then? Well, Wes Craven’s re-invention of the slasher genre with Scream (1996) and Scream 2 (1997) was a terrific postmodern treat leading to many new series, such as I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), and new installments of old horror series like Bride of Chucky (1998). It goes without saying that some of these were better than others.

Abel Ferrara made a significant contribution to the genre with Body Snatchers (1993), a very effective remake of the classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and The Addiction (1995), a great original take on the vampire genre. Speaking of vampires, what to think of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) by Francis Ford Coppola? It’s the best version since Tod Browning’s original from 1931.

The formidable Sam Raimi completed his magnificent Evil Dead trilogy with Army of Darkness, the funniest installment yet. Peter Jackson also combined humor and supreme gore in Braindead (1992) and also delivered The Frighteners (1996). Anything else? Certainly. A selection: Joe Dante’s Gremlins 2 (1990), Adrian Lyne’s Jacob’s Ladder (1990), Ron Underwood’s Tremors (1990), David Fincher’s Alien 3 (1992), Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien: Resurrection (1997) and Taylor Hackford’s The Devil’s Advocate. Last but not least, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez’s The Blair Witch Project (1999) spawned a new horror genre with its handheld camera. It’s also the first movie that successfully used the internet to create a hype.

7. The Brits are Back in Town
After a period of recession, the British film industry bloomed again in the nineties. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) launched the career of Hugh Grant and was a smash hit at the box office. In 1995 James Bond returned after a long period in the pretty awesome Goldeneye. What’s really great about British cinema in the nineties is the emergence of new talent though. The trio John Hodge, Danny Boyle and Andrew MacDonald made a terrific debut with Shallow Grave (1994) and followed it up with one of the best films of the decade: Trainspotting (1996). In 1998 Guy Ritchie was another positive British surprise with the very funny and exciting Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

8. Scorsese Scores Big-time
He delivered brilliant work in the seventies (Mean Streets, Taxi Driver) and eighties (Raging Bull). In the early nineties the maestro showed that he could deliver masterpieces in every decennium. He started by breaking all cinematic conventions in GoodFellas (1990), the greatest film ever made about the real Mafia. Then he made the highly influential thriller Cape Fear (1991) and the excellent costume drama The Age of Innocence (1993) before returning to the mob genre with the superbly realized Casino (1995). He ended the decade with the underrated Bringing Out the Dead (1999).

9. Indie Cinema to the Max
Tarantino and the Coens are already honored in this overview, but there are many other great independent American directors who made their entrance in the nineties or definitely established themselves as masters. In the debut department, we saw Richard Linklater arrive with Slacker (1991), Dazed and Confused (1993) and Before Sunrise (1995). Kevin Smith also made a super impression with the low budget comedy Clerks (1994).

Other indie directors delivered some of their finest work in the nineties. For instance, Jim Jarmusch made Dead Man (1995) and Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai (1999), David Lynch made Lost Highway (1997) and The Straight Story (1999), Steven Soderbergh made King of the Hill (1993) and Out of Sight (1998) and Todd Solondz made Happiness (1998). If we could only go back to re-experience this richness in indie cinema again. Oh boy.

10. Sci-Fi is Booming
The early nineties saw Schwarzenegger star in two of the most kick-ass Sci-Fi / Action movies of our time: Total Recall (1990) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). The director of the first one, Paul Verhoeven, would write more sci-fi history in 1997 with Starship Troopers (1997). Other excellent movies in this genre that came out in the nineties are: Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future III (1990), Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993), Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys (1995), Roland Emerich’s Independence Day (1996), Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element (1997), Paul W.S. Anderson’s Event Horizon (1997), David Cronenberg’s ExistenZ (1999) and Dean Parisot’s Galaxy Quest (1999).

The final year of the millennium also saw Star Wars return to the big screen, but Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) was not an all positive experience. It was another sci-fi film released in 1999 that formed the perfect transition into the new millennium: the cyberpunk story The Matrix by the Wachowski brothers (now sisters). An exciting (and very, very good) surprise hit and the greatest ending imaginable for a movie decade that completely rocked.

Vacation Reading: Three Philip K. Dicks

Posted on 21 oktober 2023 by Jeppe Kleijngeld

A Scanner Darkly (1977)

Semi-autobiographical novel about Dick’s experiences of living with a group of dope users. The main character is Bob Archtor, an undercover agent who gets addicted to a futuristic drug (the novel is set in 1994 in Orange County) called ‘Substance D’, a drug that soon leads to serious brain malfunction, and Archtor starts to lose his identity. Dick wrote it after a period in which he wasn’t able to produce any fiction due to drug consumption, so this novel functioned as a turbocharger of sorts. It contains flashes of brilliance, especially when it commentates on the lifestyle of heavy drug users, but as a whole it is quite a dull read, especially for a terrific writer as Dick. Turned into a 2006 movie by Richard Linklater, starring Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson, Winona Rider and Robert Downey Jr. The book ends with a list of all the dopers Dick hung out with who had died since then. It is quite a long list.

The Man in the High Castle (1962)

Who is the Man in the High Castle? It is the author Hawthorne Abendsen who wrote a subversive novel in which the allies won the Second World War. You see, this classic novel by science fiction legend Philip K. Dick is set in an alternative America which is governed by the Nazi’s and Japanese who have won WWII. In this world, American culture is quickly vanishing from existence, and an artificial America is rising. The novel follows various American, Japanese and European characters who try to make their way in this reality, thereby using the Taoist book ‘I Ching or Book of Changes’ as their guidance. The fascinating thing about ‘The Man in the High Castle’ is how believable Dick has crafted this alternate world. It makes the reader realize that we live in such a world ourselves, the result of countless choices and actions. We take it for granted, but everything could easily be very different. Turned into a television series by Amazon in 2015.

VALIS (1981)

‘VALIS’ follows the adventures of Horselover Fat (great name for a character!), an alter ego of the writer. This later, partly autobiographical book, is about Dick’s religious experiences. VALIS stands for Vast Active Living Intelligence System and represents the writer’s vision of God, which is that God is actually one huge macro-mind that connects everything. Unfortunately, the book – that was published one year before his death – contains not much more than endless philosophizing about the divine, madness and alien intelligence. Yes, Dick certainly had some fascinating thoughts and ideas, but they lack clarity here. And a plot is also sorely missing in ‘VALIS’. I’m afraid I am more a fan of Dick’s earlier works, like the phenomenal ‘Ubik’. ‘VALIS’ is part of a trilogy that also included ‘The Divine Invasion’ and ‘The Transmigration of Timothy Archer’, his final novel.