Waking Life

A surreal, vividly animated affair that runs through a number of theories concerning human existence and consciousness, Richard Linklater's Waking Life won't be to everyone's liking. Using real actors and locations, and then painting over them with digital animation, the picture itself is superbly realised - beautiful to look at, and a metaphor for the subjects on examination. The plot - in so much as there is one - concerns an unnamed central character (as played by Wiley Wiggins) who awakes from one dream into another, and proceeds to go on a number of intellectually teasing adventures with a whole host of folks. Linklater maintains a wry, sly sense of humour throughout - for a blatant example, see Steven Sorderbergh's cameo late on - and the topics he touches upon are always interesting, if not always completely clear. Although it's not a movie to zone in and out of, Waking Life demands concentration and rewards those with patience.