Idea-dropping

Most of Richard Linklater's previous films, such as Dazed and Confused, Slacker and Before Sunrise, have enjoyed great success by holding up the mirror to 20-somethings' intermingling of curiosity and apathy. Judging by the almost universally positive response he's received for his latest film, Waking Life, the formula is anything but tired. In addition to praising its meandering dialogue, critics are calling the colorful visual landscapes in which these ideas are presented a breakthrough in film animation.

Linklater shot the film with digital video and then, assembling a group of more than 30 artists, "painted" each frame using computer animation technology. The result is a colorful, active film that is not quite animated, not quite filmed. Abstract fields of yellow, orange, green and blue take familiar shapes as they emerge from and recede into the background while sketchy outlines zigzag over the screen to suggest human faces, bodies and their surroundings. However, that which makes a film noteworthy does not necessarily make it good. The visual aspect of Waking Life does complement its overall theme--the distinction, or lack thereof, between dream and reality--yet is ultimately unable to help provide any depth.

The protagonist, a nameless character played by Wiley Wiggins, is himself a 20-something wanderer who encounters an assorted cast of characters in a variety of settings in which they have a series of quick "conversations" (though Wiggins hardly says a word most of the time) that wander from Plato to Sartre, Augustine to Schweitzer, Stevenson to Lorca. Wiggins and company touch on familiar territory for anyone who has taken introductory courses in the humanities, as they cover some of the major dichotomies from the history of critical thought: life vs. death, free will vs. determinism, being alone vs. being with and, perhaps most obviously, dream vs. reality. While such a stimulating screenplay might sound like it would be a real intellectual feast, one gets the sense that these characters (and ultimately Linklater himself) are merely engaging in "idea-dropping." From beginning to end, the viewer is pelted with bits of ideas that treat similar themes yet don't ultimately go anywhere.