Hey folks, Harry here with a review from Your Girlfriend (dontcha wish?) of WAKING LIFE. Now since the last review on this we got was from the ignaramus known to the masses as Massawyrm, I figured I'd give a gal with the cranial capacity of one of them there geniuseseses a chance to tell us zactly whats she's a thinking about this here picture show. And frankly, WAKING LIFE was a film that stimulated her the entire time... and we were nowhere near her to take advantage. DAMMIT! Here ya go...
Hi Harry,
Last night I saw Waking Life and I felt compelled to write a review. I don't want to give away too much about the movie, so I'm just gonna give my opinion.
Waking Life is a film that had me completely stimulated the entire time, visually, mentally and audibly. It was almost sensory overload, but crafted so wondrously that I never wanted it to end. Imagine being on acid, your thoughts feel so deep and you want so bad to discuss things in a way that will impact your life after the trip ends but your thought path changes so quickly that concentrating long enough to have that conversation becomes nearly impossible. This movie made it all possible. I've never seen something that so closely imitates an acid trip. To me, there wasn't really a "story" just thoughts woven together so beautifully that I never missed one.
In the beginning we see a young boy playing with his friend in what could be a real life situation until, a few minutes later, he begins to fly. From then on we follow him around (as an older guy) and hear commentary from many characters about life and dreams and the meaning of it all... among other things. We never know for sure whether he's dreaming or not, and neither does he. It's as if we're walking right along with him and meeting all the people he meets and could possibly be in his dream or he in ours. We rarely hear his point of view which makes the feeling of being there even so much more lucid.
What intrigued me most was the attitude of all the people he encountered. They were willing to offer great insight and give their personal opinions without ever doing it in that "I'm smarter than you" sort of way. Sometimes, you meet people who would like to fancy themselves "intellectuals." They talk about existence and creation and this and that and try to be so sure of their intelligence and "deep thinking" that they talk down to everyone they meet. I never got that feeling from this movie. The things they spoke about could be considered "deep" but they were never delivered in that way. One of the first few people he talks with is his college professor. This man was just plain cool about talking and giving his opinion. He never seemed to be trying to Prove himself as an intelligent man, which is very refreshing when dealing with a college professor. He was just open and so sweet as were pretty much all of the characters he spoke with. I never felt l! ike I was hearing a cigarette smoking-coffee drinker give his opinion on life and existence, which to me is the best thing about the movie, considering how easy it could have been to steer the wrong way with this material. (of course Richard Linklater has a way with doing things that could potentially be stupid...doing them so well.. that I shouldn't be at all surprised)
Another wonderful thing was the comedy. We were laughing aloud quite a few times thoughout the movie and really enjoying ourselves. Which also wasn't surprising considering the director.
I don't know if you can call this a review or just a gush fest, but I loved the movie and think every person should take the time to see it right now! I can't stop thinking about it! Refreshing is definately the word to use after having just suffered through 13 ghosts and Audition in the past week, I needed a good one! Thankfully I got what keeps me so addicted to movies, brilliance!
Your girlfriend, uh, just call me...
