Waking Life - DVD

Film: Richard Linklater is probably one of the most versatile and experimental directors ever. In addition to more crowd-pleasing comedies like School of Rock or The Bears Are Out, more ambitious romances like Before Sunrise and its sequel Before Sunset, or satirical dramas like Fast Food Nation, Linklater has enjoyed venturing into more unwieldy art film territory. 2001's Waking Life is one such work and arguably the most experimental film Linklater has made to date. The film was shot with two simple video cameras, the resulting material was then cut and colored afterwards, resulting in an animated film of a special kind.

A plot in the true sense is dispensed with here. Rather, the viewer moves in the dream world of a young man (Wiley Wiggins), in which he meets various personalities with whom he ponders the most diverse philosophical, spiritual and religious aspects of our lives. With scholars, artists such as Steven Soderbergh or fictional characters such as the couple known from Linklater's Before Sunrise (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy), the viewer is immersed in a surreal world of images and thoughts, from which the main character can seemingly no longer escape.

It is mused on self-determination, reincarnation, language, dreams and reality, predestination, whereby the most diverse views are interconnected at sometimes very short intervals. There is no clear narrative, the numerous protagonists are not introduced by name, and the viewer's attention is thus repeatedly challenged to the utmost. Thereby, it happens again and again that you get distracted by the sometimes very fascinating, then again a little bit exhausting and needing to get used to the animations. So to be able to grasp the film in its entirety the first time around is almost impossible.

Although Linklater revisited the animation style in the science fiction thriller A Scanner Darkly, based on a novel by Phlip K. Dick and starring Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey Jr. five years later, Waking Life remains unique in many ways. For example, every single person involved in the animation process has their own unique signature, which is clearly recognizable as such. As a result, the style within a scene can change over and over again, intensifying the dreamlike atmosphere even more.

Waking Life is an exhausting film. It is a challenging work that requires the viewer to be open-minded, highly attentive, and have some prior knowledge of or interest in matters of philosophy, ethics, or world religions. It is a truly unique work that will not be accessible to everyone. But if you can get involved with the unusual visuals and content and simply let yourself be drawn into the maelstrom of theories and world views, of the dreamlike and the real, you will be rewarded with a truly fascinating trip. Therefore, for arthouse lovers who enjoy experimentation, this search for the meaning of life is thoroughly recommended!

Image + Sound: The film's unique visual style comes through nicely on the DVD thanks to good image sharpness and powerful coloration. The sound remains largely restrained and is dominated primarily by the well intelligible mixed dialogue. Large surround effects one looks in vain here therefore, whereby these would be here also somewhat out of place. Good!

Extras: Particularly helpful is the German trivia track, which can be switched to the main film. Here it is not only revealed who the various protagonists are, but their theses and views are also illuminated in a little more detail and put in the appropriate context. This contributes significantly to the understanding of the film, but also strongly distracts from the visuals, which makes watching twice almost unavoidable.

Also not uninteresting are the two audio commentaries, which are however presented without subtitles and can therefore only be recommended to interested viewers with a good knowledge of English. The first commentary is voiced by director Linklater, lead actor Wiley Wiggins, animation director Bob Sabistan and producer Tommy Pallotta. At times the conversation is difficult to understand, but the information revealed here about the making of the film and the director's intentions make it well worth listening to. A bit more technical, but easier to understand is the commentary by the film's animators. This audio commentary focuses almost entirely on the visual realization and holds in this regard also quite a few exciting details ready.

If you want to see how the film looked before post-production, you also get the opportunity in the bonus material. Twelve minutes of greatest hits of the live-action scenes are quite interesting to watch, but a direct picture-in-picture comparison would have been even better here. More about the post-production with the help of the animation software the viewer gets in a short tutorial offered (about 20 minutes). In addition, there is a much too short making of featurette (approx. 4 min.), as well as 19 dropped, alternative or test scenes. The trailer and other programming tips from the provider round out the very good bonus package.

Conclusion: Waking Life is experimental head cinema that is an impressive testament to the director's versatility. Viewers looking to be challenged both visually and intellectually should not miss this very special trip. The DVD is technically well done and also has very helpful and interesting bonus material. The whole thing is aimed rather at a small niche audience, but for this applies: absolutely recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp