Waking Life | 
| Directors: Bob Sabiston, Richard Linklater
Actors: Ethan Hawke, Trevor Jack Brooks, Lorelei Linklater, Wiley Wiggins, Glover Gill
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy New: $4.38
You Save: $5.60 (56%)
New (48) Used (43) Collectible (2) from $3.24
Rating:  322 reviews
Sales Rank: 3586
Format: Anamorphic, Animated, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), French (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.5
MPN: 024543040651
UPC: 024543040651
EAN: 0245430406514
ASIN: B00005YU1O
Theatrical Release Date: 2001
Release Date: May 7, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A man in a dream state begins to question whether waking or dreaming is the true reality; while on his journey in the dream he meets many interesting characters who talk with him about the meaning of life, perception and human existance.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: R
Release Date: 15-APR-2003
Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com
Waking Life is a film that never settles down. Or maybe it never wakes up. Regardless, Richard Linklater's animated meditation seems to strike a perfect balance between the plotless meanderings of Slacker and the unquenchable knowledge-seeking of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. Any way you look at it, this is a weird, original movie. As he attempts to figure out what separates dreams from reality, the protagonist (Dazed and Confused's Wiley Wiggins) hears an earful from everyone he stumbles upon. Ramblings range from the scholarly (Linklater's former college professor Robert C. Solomon gives a monologue) to the banal (of which there are plenty). Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Steven Soderbergh, and Adam Goldberg all get animated cameos, basically playing themselves. The dream-centered dialogues eventually grow mind-numbing, but that's OK; the animation steals the show. Each frame of the movie, which was first shot with live actors, was painted over, and the process renders a distorted and trippy collage of sights and sounds. Linklater's film is ultimately quite poignant, but, as with any good journey, you'll need to sit through some fairly tedious moments before reaching the destination. --Jason Verlinde
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| Customer Reviews: Read 317 more reviews...
 List of Topics Covered in this Series of Dreams June 16, 2009
Doug Anderson (Miami Beach, Florida United States)
Existentialism: A college professor claims that far from being a philosophy of despair (Sartre claims never to have felt despair), existentialism is a philosphy of "exuberance," hope, and possibility.
The professor considers but refutes postmodern claims that we are socially constructed, and re-emphasizes existential claims that we are our own authors.
Language: A college aged blonde woman discusses language theory. She contemplates how much of our experience is abstract and ineffable, but also stresses how we live for the moments when true communication takes place and we feel understood. This she compares to spiritual communion.
Evolutionary Psychology: An ev. psychologist considers the telescoping (accelerated) nature of human evolution. He argues that evolution is accelerating at such a rate that soon we will be able to detect evolutionary alterations even in our own lifetimes. So far evolution has been governed by the survival of species, but, he argues, we are about to enter a new phase of evolution whereby individuals will evolve according to inner desires...
Alienation: An alienated rebel suggests that humans not only desire chaos (including catastrophes) but that they need it. But he also argues that the media intentionally makes us feel small and powerless. As a means of protest, he sets himself ablaze.
Collective Memory/Consciousness: Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy discuss the possibility that we are all able to access not just our own individual memories but also the memories of the human species. Delpy says she often feels like she is an old woman looking back on her life, and Hawke suggests that we are all somehow connected to the same consciousness (and that this explains why humans on all points of the globe often stumble upon the same ideas at the same time).
Free Will: A scientist discusses the history of the determinism v. free will argument. Governed by his own field of expertise he attempts to explain everything according to unbending physical laws, yet, despite his training and deliberations, he is unwilling to give up the idea of free will...
Systems of Control: A man with speakers on the roof of his car drives through the city streets warning the public that we are all members of a "corporate slave state," and he urges us not to surrender to the mass dehumanization that he sees being perpetrated by corporations and politicians (which he sees as corporate puppets). He argues that they all want to make us feel small so that we won't resist, but that we must resist in order to assert our creative humanity.
Attitude: An older professor argues that we must struggle to liberate ourselves from the negative: "Say yes to one instant, and you say yes to life."
Liminal Experiences: Meaning "inbetween" states or experiences that challenge existing accounts/defintions of experience, identity, reality. An ethnic writer argues that these liminal experiences that challenge the norm are in fact becoming the norm. And, he goes on to argue that we are all becoming part of a greater subjectivity (or radical subjectivity) that recognizes no set boundaries.
Time/Identity: A middle-aged pair of friends discuss their lives and how they felt that the uncertainty of youth would one day vanish into the certainty of age. But neither has found that to be the case. Both feel that curiosity makes humans undergo constant changes and that this process lasts ones entire lifetime.
Doubt/Narrative: A monkey shows and narrates a film about how "doubt" has become the new generation's narrative and how various cultural rebels search for and find the "buried possibilities of our time." The new world, claims the simian, is a negation of the old. And, he adds, "a new world is just as likely as an old one."
Self-Imposed Barriers: A guy at a bar compares man to animals, and suggests that the reason more humans do not achieve great things is because of fear and laziness.
Dream Consciousness: A woman on television discusses how we can apprehend things while dreaming that we could never apprehend while awake.
Film: A film enthusiast discusses Bazin's view that film allows us to see that each moment is a "holy moment." The friend of the film enthusiast discusses that reality is always layered and that even when we try to have a holy moment we are always aware of ourselves as humans trying to have a holy moment.
Theory/Action: A group of four young would-be radicals discuss ways to liberate the world from its current predicament when they encounter an older man sitting atop a telephone pole. One of the yong radicals asks the older gentleman why he is sitting up there and the old man replies he doesn't know. The young radical thinks for a moment and says to his friends, "he is all action and no theory, and we are all theory and no action."
Ants: A theatre student insists that we must not go through life like ants--going through the motions without thinking--, but that we must confront one another and experience one another and ourselves.
A Consistent Perspective: The protaganist who has been witness to all of these monologues and conversations, decides that what he has is a "consistent perspective." Meaning that while he considers each persons point of view, and that he benefits from the knowledge/wisdom/fantasies imparted to him, his own perspective sets him apart.
Alienation/Exuberance: A wild haired man on a bridge discusses "how exciting alienation can be."
Connection: A middle-aged woman looks at her past and concludes that the most important thing about life is "connecting with people."
Last words: While playing pinball, the director discusses a Philip K. Dick story as well of one of his own dreams that involves Lady Gregory and his dead dog, but ultimately decides that all of life can really be reduced to just one question, "do you want to be one with eternity?" And that most of us answer, "no, not just yet."
You Either "Get it" or You Don't June 4, 2009
Tom Mallard
And before people jump all over me, I'm not saying that people who don't like it are not intelligent. I'm saying that they don't think in the way this film thinks. I, for one, do enjoy these types of discussions of the mind, and found it a fascinating look at the subconscious. Some of the segments are better than others (my favorite was the biker scene), but they all work into each other and (again, if you are pre-disposed to liking these types of discussions) are very thought-provoking. This is not something to put on in the background, and it's not really something a group of friends would get together and watch (unless you have a group of deep-thinking, open-minded friends who are not easily "bored"). This movie is best enjoyed watching by yourself and really giving thought to the many ideas presented therein. I am not a person who is easily swayed by the things I watch or see, but this movie really did change how I felt about a few subjects of the mind.
Modern answer to "Finnegans Wake"? June 3, 2009
TW!TCHDOkTOR
As with the best of Linklater's work, the "plot" here takes a backseat to the real star of the show, the monologue. As such, we'll dispense with the plot. Notice that this is "monologue" not "dialogue". Even in scenes which would seem to portray two or more persons engaged in conversation, there isn't so much give and take as there is one person holding forth, then giving way to let the next fellow have a go. In this way, the director has basically built an all-terrain vehicle of soap-box soliloquy and handed the keys over to all manner of ranters and rhapsodists. So who needs plot?
On my most recent viewing of this favorite of mine, I realized that what was being portrayed was a view of the psychic landscape of humanity, much like Joyce famously portrayed the archetypal day of humanity, through a metaphor of The Dream. Pretentious? You bet. But don't let that deter you. Joyce didn't. Neither has Linklater. Recommended.
This is a movie to watch over and over and over again. April 7, 2009
Josephine A. White (Pickerington, OH USA)
If you enjoy dream movies, this is the best! It is up there with "What the Bleep" but is based on philosophical discourse rather than scientific lecture. The water colored digital animation is amazing in itself. I've been loaning out my copy to all my friends and they all share my love for this avant guard movie.
 Probably the stupidest movie I have ever seen! February 20, 2009
novice
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
I HATE this movie with every fiber of my being. I watched it with some friends that LOVE it and I almost had to disown them. I think the filter they used on this movie and Scanner Darkly is a STUPID GIMMIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you cant make an interesting movie don't try to cover it up with a stupid photoshop filter. For those of you who think it is "animation", your WRONG! It was filmed with real people then it had a filter applied to it (I work in the industry, trust me). Which makes it NOT animation. If I could give this movie negative stars I would. 1 star is VERY generous.
This movie reminds me of when I was in high school and everyone was trying weed for the first time and every thing was just "totally blowing their mind, man"
You want some REAL philosophy? read Plato
If you think this movie is DEEP, your stupid. Get educated.
sorry
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