Waking Life is one of the essential movies for anyone who went to college. It is essentially a collection of philosophical ideas - Kierkegaard and Satre are namechecked - meant for what we philosophers (bizarrely) call 'the folk'. Some of the characters are intriguing, some are mysterious, but all are meant to provoke fundamental questions. By considering levels of dreaming, and what it means to lucid dream, the central filmic metaphor suggests the Allegory of the Cave, Vedanta beliefs and Descartes' dream scenario. Don't think that this makes the film pretentious and dull; it is all done in an engaging and stirring manner.
© Fox Searchlight PicturesFurthermore, it is a beautiful film - the technique of rotoscoping, which I will explain in my introduction before the film - is unique to Linklater's work and this was the first full-length rotoscoped movie (a short film that they made to test the method, Snack & Drink was inducted into the permanent collection at MoMA). So for those who haven't seen it, see it for the ideas or the beauty; for those that have, I'm sure that there are characters you don't remember (and you can never watch too much of the libertarian with the bullhorn!).
Bonus: If you loved Before Sunset/Sunrise, as I did, you'll be glad to know that Jesse/Céline makes a (postcoital) appearance.
"Waking Life won the National Society of Film Critics award for 'Best Experimental Film', the New York Film Critics Circle award for 'Best Animated Film', and the CinemAvvenire award at the Venice Film Festival for 'Best Film'. It was also nominated for the Golden Lion, the festival's main award."
Also: Patricia had the brilliant idea of making this a sort of sleep party. So bring pillow(s) or a cover or a beanbag (!) and we can all lay back and enjoy.
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