OK film fans I woke up today feeling pretty blah, sinus' killing me, stomach growling and basically just feeling like crap. Even though I had a gazillion things to do I went back to sleep hoping I would wake up feeling better. When I woke up the second time not only did I feel crappier but I also carried with me vague memories of a completely bizarre dream about vampires, blood and politicians. Freud is actually laughing his ass off as I type this sentence. I came downstairs and bundled up on my retro 60s (and only comfortable for short stretches) couch and started surfing the web, floating from one web site to the next.
Befitting my groggy, semi-awake state I happened across this amazing convergence of illustrations and music. It consists of a 50 foot illustration by Ira Marcks which is slowly revealed to the entire concept album March 3 by The Few Moments (read the lyrics, all the songs are parts of a continuous story). When I first started to listen to the music, it had a dreamy, futuristic feel to it, kind of like Radiohead's OK Computer. Combined with the illustrations (blow it up to full screen and put some headphones on for optimum transportation) it reminded me of the film Pink Floyd The Wall (Do you know Floyd? I know Floyd.) But the more I watched, in my still hazy consciousness, the more it made me think of another film.
Waking Life is an animated film equivalent of a combination of interpreted dreams, "enhanced" college philosophical debates and the rambling monologues of homeless prophets. This is one of my favorite films from director Richard Linklater, who often explores what he calls "the youth rebellion continuum." The title he's chosen for this film reveals exactly where he's taking us with this exploration. It's a reference to a quote from Spanish Philosopher and Essayist George Santayana, "Sanity is madness put to good uses; waking life is a dream controlled." (George was a pretty bright guy, also providing two famous quotes often attributed to other geniuses throughout history.) Our nameless main character (who in essence becomes the viewer) is lost in a lucid dream-state, not quite in control of the dream and unable to wake up. As he wanders though his dreams everyone he encounters has something to say either about life, dreams or how to discern the difference between the two.
Now, this is a fairly pretentious film, but not in a bad way. It's not artsy for art's sake, nor is it condescending. It simply talks about topics directly that you rarely see in Hollywood films, either overtly or as subtext. Even films that hit on one of the subjects discussed here are usually served at a slow pitch. Waking Life has fun breaking conventions; it discusses the concepts of dreams vs. reality, individuality, existentialism, post humanity, violence, love, free will and the meaning of life in both serious and comical tones. It also asks tough questions without providing answers, and Hollywood is nothing if not a "happy ending" factory. Agree or disagree it doesn't matter; this film is about the journey we're all on and the myriad of opinions on how best to enjoy it. I've thrown some of my favorite clips in here for you to test the waters and see if you find them accommodating. If you're up for the swim it's a fun way to immerse yourself in various philosophical debates and in one of my favorite side effects of good films: introspection.
No comments:
Post a Comment