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Waking Life

7.5

9,448

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Original title

Waking Life

Year

2001

Running time

97 min.

Country

United States

Director

Richard Linklater

Screenwriter

Richard Linklater

Cast

Music

Glover Gill

Cinematography

Animation

Producer

Fox Searchlight

Genre

Animation. Drama | Independent Film (US). Cult Movie. Adult Animation

Synopsis

Transcending the boundaries of technology and imagination, WAKING LIFE is a revolutionary breakthrough in film animation. Originally shot and edited as live action, the footage was then graphically “painted” frame by frame via computer by a team of more than 30 artists. The feeling created is that of an impressionist painting breathing with life.
WAKING LIFE represents a unique union of the worlds of computer and film embodied in the talents of writer/director Richard Linklater (Slacker, Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise) and computer animation savant Bob Sabiston, the creator of the unique “interpolated rotoscoping” software that gave birth to WAKING LIFE.
In WAKING LIFE, Wiley Wiggins (Dazed and Confused) travels through a series of encounters and observations in a world that may or may not be reality. It is this surreal existence, flourishing with endless ideas and possibilities, that ultimately leads to the question, “Are we sleep-walking through our waking state or wake-walking through our dreams?”

Rankings Position

#19 Best Animated Works for Adults
#43 Best Animated Movies
#139 Best Movies of the 21st century

Awards: 2001: New York Film Critics Circle: Best Animated Film

2001: Independent Spirit Awards: 3 Nominations including Best Film

2001: Chicago Film Critics Awards: Nominated for Best Picture

2001: Venice Film Festival: nominated to Golden Lion - Best Picture.

2001: Critics' Choice Awards: nominated to Best Animated Feature.

2002: Ottawa International Animation Festival: Grand Prize: Best Film.

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Critics' reviews

"The film is truly special, truly different -- a wondrous talky roundelay about and for people who love life."

Michael Wilmington: Chicago Tribune
"An astounding, one-of-a-kind movie"

Peter Rainer: Vulture
"For the battered American independent cinema, Linklater's movie is the highest form of life seen in the last couple of years"

David Denby: The New Yorker
"I have seen Waking Life three times now. I want to see it again -- not to master it, or even to remember it better, -- but simply to experience all of these ideas, all of this passion, the very act of trying to figure things out."

Roger Ebert: Chicago Sun-Times
"A smart cartoon about the life of the mind. It's about the fuzzy border between dreaming and living. "

Desson Thomson: The Washington Post
"Intriguing, arresting, delightfully refusing to be pigeonholed"

Jay Carr: Boston Globe
"So verbally dexterous and visually innovative that you can't absorb it unless you have all your wits about you. And even then, you may want to see it again to enjoy its subtle humor and warm humanity."

Stephen Holden: The New York Times
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Ranking Lists Position

41 My Top 10 Movies from 2001 (61)
95 The Weirdest Movies I Have Ever Watched (45)

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Waking Life

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