#4 - Waking Life

Well, here is the first animated DVD I have to review and let me tell you right away that I loves me some cartoons. I like all sorts of animation styles from a number of different artists and for a number of different audiences. I like Anime as long as its not about robots, cause really, I dont care. I like Disney, Looney Tunes, all those shorts from back in the day. I like animation that is truly unique like Yellow Submarine and the animated sections of Pink Floyd's the Wall. I would put this movie in the same category as those two, but only in terms of pushing the envelope for what animation can for storytelling and unique imagery. The other two movies have so much more going for them other than the animation.

But first, this movie is by the guy who mad Dazed and Confused. But don't expect to see a similar movie. Waking Life is a series of dream sequences in which the main character floats conversations and discussions about life, philosophy, metaphysics, politics and the universe. It's interesting that the only dialogue that is similar between the two is spoken by the geeks and the stoners, I mean the REAL stoners. But there are moments in Waking Life that have an anti-authority theme that is somewhat similar to Randall "Pink" Floyd's mindset at the end of Dazed and Confused.

Now I'm not one much for a lot of philosophy. Especially metaphysics and theoretical physics. It's interesting to hear, but people who are constantly mulling these things over and trying to tell everybody about it make me want to stab my ears out. Essentially, this movie is a series of those discussions, which, if not for the animation style, would have been so unbelievably boring to watch. It is the animation that kept me engaged in the film and actually kept me listening to the philosophical and political talk.

What they did for this movie was to film the entire thing in digital. After editing, they used their computers to draw the animation over the digital video. If you have seen the animated Charles Schwab(Lay off the cotton, you Schwab!!) commercials, then you have seen the technique. But, they divided scenes up and had a number of different artists doing the animation for them. Some are more realistic while others have a very abstract interpretation. This plus the different discussions for each scene makes it very episodic(You Marxists!!!). It is so visually captivating and unique that I was completely absorbed throughout.

I learned something while watching this film. I discovered that people who talk about metaphysics and philosophy do so with a passion and faith that is the same as those who talk about theology. Its as if modern philosophy is a replacement for religion when an individual rejects religious standards and doctrine. Both are faith based, but one just lets you sleep in on Sundays. There's my serious momement, but if you pay attention to this movie, you can't help but reflect and think about things that were discussed.