Review: Waking Life
Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 3:58PM 
Written and directed by Richard Linklater and released in 2001, Waking Life is about a young man, trapped in a perpetual dream he cannot escape. The man, played by Wiley Wiggins, is at first unaware that he is dreaming. He walks through a surreal world where people drive boat-cars, and speak like philosophers. These people discuss ideas about the possibilities of life, the importance of actions, the direction the world is moving, the nature of human interaction, and the metaphysical properties of the world and the human mind. In time, the narrator sees that he is dreaming, and eventually begins to question whether he is even alive. It is an intense philosophical trip through a literally metaphysical world.
Waking Life is completely rotoscoped. First filmed in live action, artists then traced, by hand, over each frame creating beautiful visual effects, which occasionally slide almost back into live action. The rotoscoping gives the film a dream-like appearance that live action could not. The backgrounds are often unstable—shifting separately from the foreground, and the people will sometimes change depending on what they are talking about: they may turn bright red when yelling, or lose their skin when explaining how muscles and nerves work. The result is an image that truly replicates the appearance of dreams, an effect other mediums could not achieve. This film could not be translated into a book and retain its dream-feel. Even filmed in live action, it would likely lose most of its surreality.
Waking Life is not a film for the faint of mind. It is composed mostly of long philosophical discussions between unknown characters. Sometimes the main character is present in these discussions, and sometimes he is not. I am not certain, but I don’t think a single character is named in the film. There are no transitions between scenes. Some may find it difficult to follow the near plotless shifts.
The conversations can also be difficult to follow, if one is not devoted to listening to them. There is little action to accompany the conversations; mostly the characters are sitting and talking, so viewers must constantly exercise their ears, more than their eyes. However, the ideas discussed are fascinating, so for someone with an interest in philosophy or ideas it is easy to listen. But it does take deliberate effort to pay attention to a character talking about the exponential acceleration of evolution, or to follow along when faced with strange concepts, like “when one realises that they are a dream figure in another person’s dream—that is self-awareness.” However, philosophers are mentioned sparingly, so one does not need a thorough knowledge of philosophy to understand. One may, at times, feel overloaded with information, but missing one or two conversations will not ruin the movie. However, there are very subtle developments of understanding within these conversations, which drive the narrative of the movie. Miss too many of the conversations and one could easily overlook this.
Waking Life is an uncommon film. Few movies utilize such unique visuals so well, and few tell a story like this: where ideas drive a character. The film’s ideas are complex and fascinating, but anyone who tries to understand will be able to (at least enough to enjoy them). It is a movie that I believe all people should watch to expand their perceptions of filmmaking, storytelling and the world around them. If given a chance, it could seed a love of philosophy in many people who have never explored the field.
Reader Comments (1)
Sounds like a fascinating film, with many interesting ideas and in an innovative format - I would like to watch it - thank you for the recommendation.
Editorial comment: I felt some points were repeated - perhaps a bit more show and less tell would be good.
The idea of being a figure in someone else's dream reminds me of the themes explored in Inception. Then there's Avatar and what will no doubt be a lot of cinematic rip-offs and riffs on the notion of divided selves - as new technologies develop so rapidly, it's good to know some people are seriously thinking about the implications, and creating work that asks questions about the nature of human existence right now.