Linklater's long-awaited film adaptation of A Scanner Darkly opened in limited release today. Seattle got lucky, I got luckier; it's playing locally at the Egyptian which is just a short walk away from my place.

I was extraordinarily pleased with the way the film turned out. It's an adaptation that's very faithful to the tone and texture of the source material, and the novel translates suprisingly well to the screen. Linklater made some stellar casting descisions (the ensemble scenes with Rory Cochrane, Robert Downey Jr, Woody Harrelson, and Keanu Reeves are quite funny -- likely because all of those actors have some experience with the subject matter) which ultimately make the movie work.

Much will be said about the rotoscoped animation technique used in the film. It's one of those things that you will either love or hate. As a cinematic device, I think it meshes well with the material -- the film is fundamentally about altered  reality, and I think the rotoscoping works as a visual manifestation of some of the central thematic elements of the film. The resultant aesthetic will appeal to some people and irritate others, but regardless of which camp you're in I think you have to agree that the movie wouldn't work artistically without it (shooting it without some visual alteration would be entirely too normal and conflict with the mental distortion being experienced by the characters).

Bottom line is that if you like the book, you'll probably like the film. If you like other PKD books (especially ones written later in his career, like the V.A.L.I.S. trilogy), you'll probably like the film. If you're only exposure to PKD is through mainstream renderings of his work such as Total Recall or Blade Runner, you'll probably be in for a surprise. But it's a good surprise (or, like most of PKD's stuff, at least a mind-expanding one).

My hat is off to Richard Linklater for doing something that I was pretty sure couldn't be done (well). I'll definitely see this one again.