WAKING LIFE (2001) ***

Reviewed 10/10/01

Richard Linklater’s new film, WAKING LIFE, is exceptionally bold in more ways than one.  First it is an animated movie for adults, and second, it is entirely driven by ideas in lieu of plot.

Early on in WAKING LIFE, a movie where none of the characters have names, Ethan Hawke speculates about the nine to twelve minutes the brain can stay alive after the body has died.  Just as one can experience huge passages of time during a dream when only a few actual minutes have passed, might one not experience an entire lifetime during one’s last moments?  WAKING LIFE elicits such questions as well as others in the areas of existentialism, semiotics, evolution, epistemology, the nature of cinema, and consumer society.  Insofar as WAKING LIFE has a story, it involves Wiley Wiggins making his way through an ever changing surreal urban landscape.  Every character he encounters has something to spout.  Some sound like Socrates, others like Mao Tse Tung, and yet others like some New Age lunatic.  In an early shot, Wiggins floats from a car into the sky, recalling Fellini’s 8½.  WAKING LIFE mirrors Fellini’s playfulness, if not with the same level of sophistication.

In New York, San Antonio, and his hometown of Austin, Linklater first shot the entire film live-action on digital video.  After Linklater edited it with Sandra Adair, art director Bob Sabiston began the animation process.  Sabiston hired more than thirty artists and used computer software he himself created.   The resulting artwork resembles inspired Ralph Bakshi, but it is more lucid, stylized, and brighter.  The backgrounds are constantly wavering and vibrating.  It connotes a steady change in perspective both metaphorically and literally.  The film, after all, does nothing if not offer numerous perspectives on numerous topics.

A general test as to whether one will like WAKING LIFE will depend on one’s reaction to Linklater’s first film, SLACKER.  Due to their great similarities, chances are SLACKER-fans will be highly entertained while SLACKER-detractors will be bored to death.  WAKING LIFE is a bit of a mixed bag.  It is like getting a philosophy lecture, only the professors keep alternating between the insightful and the pretentious.

Linklater brings back many actors he has worked with before.  These include Wiley Wiggins, Adam Goldberg, and Nicky Katt from DAZED AND CONFUSED, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy from BEFORE SUNRISE, and Charles Gunning and Louis Mackey from SLACKER.  Steven Soderbergh, Linklater’s daughter Lorelei, and Linklater himself also make appearances.