Waking Life

365 Films

Entry #117

Waking Life (2001)

Directed by Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater’s Waking Life was a certifiable mind bending cinematic experience for my 17-year-old mind way back in the fall of 2001.  Waking Life carries with it many specific memories for me, including the theater in which it was initially viewed.  As I’ve mentioned previously in this blog, the town where I grew up did not receive the lion’s share of independent releases.  This would have been fine except for the fact that Delaware is located within a relative ear shot of New York City, therefore inquiring minds would get a taste of what was out there but not the ability to sample.  Luckily, Philadelphia, a mere forty-minute drive away possesses not one, not two, but three independent theaters.  I’m sure there were and still are more, however, my purview was limited to the Ritz chain, which is now owned by the Landmark.  Such is the way these things go with time so no angry Philadelphian letters please.  In any event, the Ritz theaters represented something of an escape from the noise and clatter of our local multiplexes.  Before I come off sounding like some kind of top hatted, monocle wearing snob, I must say it is kind of nice when the theater plays classical music before the show starts as opposed to bombarding you with ads and obnoxious pop songs.   The Ritz represented stepping into a world where movies were taken seriously, but at the same time not as evidenced by Ritz playing the Mystery Science Theater movie when it first opened.  As future entries are written, I’ll delve into each individual story about our families’ trips to the Ritz theaters, but for now I’ll limit it to Waking Life.  Waking Life was a milestone for me because it introduced the idea that a movie composed entirely of chatter could be as thrilling and engaging as one composed entirely of shootouts and explosions.  It introduced the idea that animation’s use need not be limited to the major studios with millions of dollars at their disposal.  Most importantly of all I got to experience first hand, the low-key brilliance of writer-director Richard Linklater.  A filmmaker whom, in his own unique southern dude manner has managed to single handedly carve out a niche for himself some twenty plus years into his career and helped define and maintain the landscape of independent film.  Just take a look at the new releases from last week and his Before Midnight is doing exactly that even as we speak.  Waking Life introduced me to his work and for that I’ll be forever thankful, it remains to this day a beautiful reminder of what the autumn cinematic schedule brings with it every year, and perhaps most importantly, it showed me that movies didn’t have to necessarily kill brain cells.  They could nurture and feed them as well.     

PS

To tie this all back into the Steven Soderbergh appreciation month series, the man himself has a brief cameo in Waking Life.  Everything is connected and everything matters, now isn’t that cool?