Film Review: A Scanner Darkly

A Scanner Darkly is a film based on the novel of the same name by psychedelic master Philip K. Dick.  The movie was filmed digitally then filtered by a process called interpolated rotoscope, which gives the film a comic book sort of look that is pretty unique.  The main premise of the story is that in the near future, there is a drug epidemic in which much of the population is addicted to a drug called Substance D.  The government has created a sort of police-state to deal with the crisis, which results in countless police detectives and snitches around every corner.

The acting was quite good by the main cast.  Notably, Woody Harrelson's drug tripping performance was the most memorable of the bunch.  The film deals with mind-bending realities that Philip K. Dick so enjoys exploring.  For the most part, A Scanner Darkly is an interesting ride, although at times a terrifying one.  Dick had firsthand experience with a multitude of drugs and so his dystopian vision is all the more vivid.

About the only downside of A Scanner Darkly is at times the pacing is slow and I found myself itching for something to happen.  It's one of those films that is much better in retrospect when thinking about the concept, or the idea of the film itself, rather than the quality of the film itself.  Although this film never found mainstream success, I believe it is one of the closer adaptations of Philip K. Dick's extensive works and has its place in the hearts of his fans.

I recommend this film and the source book for fans of Philip K. Dick, dystopian fiction, psychedelic drug trips, and a glimpse into a dark subculture that, though few talk about it, already exists in America today.

Bookophile Rating: Good (For a film that is enjoyable despite its flaws and offers a new way to show audiences the inner workings of a dark subculture).

Book Review: Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said

So far, this had to be my favorite of Philip K. Dick's novels. It's about a genetically engineered celebrity that, through extenuating circumstances, becomes an unknown overnight. One day everyone knows who he is, the next day he is a nobody. He investigates the cause of this enigma and is chased by police and led into a dark underground of reality-bending drug trips.

The story is short, about 200 pages, but remarkably complex. Dick is a master of playing with our perceptions of what is real and what is our imagination. The descriptions were wrought with phantasmagorical language that transcended many layers of the text.

In 2009 The Halcyon Company, known for owning the rights to the terminator franchise and making Terminator Salvation, acquired the rights to produce a film for Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said. Here's to hoping it comes out soon!

I'd recommend this book to fans of Philip K. Dick and anyone who likes books dealing with reality and drugs.

Bookophile Rating: Ludicrous!

Book Review: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Perhaps Philip K Dick's best known novel is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? It was the basis for the 1982 film Blade Runner. It takes place in the year 2021, in a U.S. that has been devastated by war and mass extinctions. People have begun to covet every living creature (owning real pets has become an extreme luxury). There are people who make electric animals for those who can't afford real ones, though there is stigma attached. They can also make humans. The novel follows Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who job is to find and destroy (retire) rogue androids, known as replicants.

The world Philip K. Dick has created is a dark and vivid one. I personally imagine it to always be raining or the streets to at least always be wet. This is probably an influence from the slow, but ultimately cult classic Blade Runner. Dick is able to create mysterious characters and set the scene faster and more effectively than any writer I know. There's something to be said about a novel written in 1968 that foresees so many things. He was certainly ahead of his time (or maybe dropped by aliens...)

The relationship developed between Rick and Pris is not sexy or really something that is lusty, it just is. There's an extra dynamic in the story, where the reader is made to be unsure of who is a replicant and who is not. It makes sense, then, that any relationship that forms in the book seems artificial in nature. Even Rick's marriage to Iran seemed contrived. It was a wonderful job by Philip K. Dick to create an atmosphere of uncertainty around each character.

I recommend this book to hard scifi fans and to fans of scifi films. There have been recent talks of sequel or prequel movies, which I'm not too sure about, but am willing to give a shot. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is a classic, and if you're just getting into the science fiction or even near future genres, I would recommend this as a great start to your adventure.

Bookophile Rating: Ludicrous!