A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Based on the novel by Philip K. Dick who also wrote The Minority Report, this second animated feature by Richard Linklater is a superb mystery / psychedelic / provocative / creative piece of work.

We enter the world of southern California 7 years from now. A new drug, Substance D, has taken over much of the population through addiction followed by death - allowing for emergency levels of government surveillance. Some believe it is the government itself who is manufacturing the drug.

Both the acting and animation (done by drawing directly over the filmed images) are excellent - a huge step forward from Linklater's Waking Life (the story is much better too!). There are sequences of the drug buddies having fits of paranoia and sequences of police surveillance that appear to be diametrically opposed - life and death or death and life depending on how you see things.

The story is smart and every scene feeds you just enough to guess where it is all heading.

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