Waking Life

Released 2001
Stars Wiley Wiggins, Trevor Jack Brooks, Robert C. Solomon, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Charles Gunning, David Sosa, Alex Jones, Aklilu Gebrewald, Carol Dawson, Lisa Moore, Steve Fitch, Steven Prince, Adam Goldberg, Nicky Katt, David Martinez, Tiana Hux, Speed Levitch, Steven Soderbergh, and Richard Linklater
Directed by Richard Linklater

This film is fresh and brilliant. It's mostly a series of philosophical monologues as the main character wanders throughout a dream encountering a vast array of characters who offer him their viewpoints on the meaning of man's existence. While watching it, I felt like I was back in college; back in the time when my friends and I would discuss semantics for hours and endlessly seek the answers to unanswerable questions. That's exactly what's happening in this movie, and there are some fascinating philosophies expressed here. The surprising part is they're not at a superficial level, which is what you would usually get in a movie. Instead they lay down some deep thoughts, and they throw them at us in a fast and furious manner. In fact, the ideas come so quickly it's difficult to absorb them all, which would make this a good movie to watch over and over. Also, this isn't a dry exercise in textbook philosophy. It's full of exuberant enthusiasm and vibrant animation, and I think it's the animation that makes it work so well. Since the ideas are all abstract, it greatly enhances the experience to have the visuals be abstract but grounded in reality. Without the animation, I'm afraid this movie would have been banal. With the animation it's brilliant, and it's anything but banal. In fact, I found the true meaning of the dream to be fascinating and moving. Waking Life is the best movie I've seen in a long time.

Summary by Bill Alward, August 4, 2002