Waking Life (2001)
Director: Richard Linklater
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Acclaimed in the US, Linklater's movie has Wiley Wiggins, the lanky longhair in Dazed & Confused, bumping pinball-style from one encounter to the next, with each acquaintance offloading his or her own pet theory of life, the universe and everything. Among them are the likes of Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, Austin, Texas's finest characters and crazies, and Linklater himself. It would be easy to dismiss as 'Slackers - Part Deux', but for the inspired conceit of shooting the film twice: once as a conventional DV feature, which then became the template for computer animator Bob Sabiston. Sabiston's woozy, pulsing dream imagery is something else. Wiley gradually realises that (a) he's in the middle of the weirdest dream of his life, and (b) he can't wake up. This is one movie where nodding off would seem an appropriate response. The endless philosophising is a bit sophomoric and more jokes would help, but this is one of a kind that grows more absorbing the longer it runs.Author: TCh
Cast & crew
Director: Richard Linklater
Producer: Anne Walker-McBay, Tommy Pallotta, Palmer West, Jonah S Smith
Cast: Trevor Jack Brooks, Lorelei Linklater, Wiley Wiggins, Glover Gill, Lara Hicks, Ames Asbell, Leigh Mahoney, Sara Nelson, Jeanine Attaway, Erik Grostic, Bill Wise, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Steven Soderbergh, Richard Linklater full cast
Duration: 101 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
Head trip
Fall preview: Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York is one of the most mind-bending films of the season.
Kiss and tell
A director and his star use their personal lives as inspiration. And it isn't self-indulgent. Promise.
Leo rising
Melissa Leo talks about good direction, being too method and how to get ahead in indies.
Top of the World
Documentarian James Marsh turns a wire-walking stunt into high drama.
Harvest feast
Black Harvest reaps the best of black filmmaking, local and international.
Sibling revelry
The Duplass brothers have big plans. Hollywood, beware.



What do you think?
Post your review now