“What does a scanner see? Into the head? Down into the heart? Does it see into me, into us? Clearly or darkly?” A scanner in this film doesn’t just signify surveillance, but it also signifies the inability to recognize the self. These notions along with paranoia, corruption, entrapment and drug addiction are dealt with in a thoughtful and highly imaginative way in A Scanner Darkly. This film is based on the Philip K. Dick novel and it is one of the best film adaptation of his novels next to Minority Report and Blade Runner.

A Scanner Darkly takes place in the not-too-distant future where more than 80% of the population is addictive to a drug called substance D. Substance D is a highly addictive drug that will slowly wither away all you brain cells and cause almost permanent brain damage. Keanue Reeves plays an undercover cop, Bob Arctor/Fred, whose job is to get closer and closer to his drug dealing girlfriend Donna Hawthorne (Winona Ryder). He lives in a medium-sized house with two other drug addicts, the eccentric and highly intelligent James Barris (Robert Downey Jr.) and the hilarious Ernie Luckman (Woody Harrelson). During his undercover work, Fred gets a new assignment that has him investigating Bob Arctor and in so the problems begin. How does he investigate himself? Is he actually the drug dealer among his circle of friends? Is he as dangerous as they say? Who is Bob Arctor?

One of the first things people will notice is the look of the film. A Scanner Darkly was shot live-action with digital cameras, then that footage was animated and rotoscoped. I can’t describe in full detail how the rotoscope works, but what I know is that using an specific type of software animators basically paint over the footage in order to give it this distinctive look. This is one of the aspects of the film that make the story and characters feel more lively and interesting to look at. I’m pretty sure if the film had been a straight-on live-action film it wouldn’t have been as interesting and trippy to watch.

While this film deals with some heavy and serious subject matter, at the end of the day it is still a comedy, a very dark comedy. Every time Reeves, Downey and Harrelson are on screen the film takes a somewhat lighter feel and gives way to more humorous situations. Another funny character that I didn’t mention before is Charles Freck (Rory Cochrane) who is a friends of theirs. Freck is by far the most fucked up and totally crazy character in the film, and the main example of how addiction can destroy you. He hallucinates swarms of bugs crawling through every inch of his body and the scene were he attempts suicide is very funny and weird.

A lot of people see A Scanner Darkly’s ever present police and government surveillance as a social commentary on the US government. I’d like to extend that comparison to almost every government today. As technology advances and society becomes more dangerous and free, the more the government will attempt to regulate the people. Governments are placed to maintain order and they will do just that especially in a society were order is not only being challenged, but it is slowly disappearing. In A Scanner Darkly society is pretty much lost, freedom is an illusion because people are either controlled by the government or by substance D.

I really liked how the film dealt with substance D and drugs in general. At no moment does it feel like it’s forcibly telling you that drugs are bad and that they will kill you. Instead it showcases the two real sides of drug-use, one of total enjoyment and one of catastrophe. Most of us know that drugs make you feel better, that they make you feel things that you wouldn’t normally feel. But at the same time, we are all aware that falling into addiction as a result of drugs only leads to self-destruction. What makes matters tragic within the film is the character of Keanu Reeves and his addiction. As an undercover cop you are expected to at least try substance D, but where do you draw the line? How is it possible to not get addicted to the most additive drug?

Keanue Reeves character falls victim to addiction and it is scary seeing how he slowly loses his mind. It is as if can’t tell what is real from what is pure imagination. His mind has become corrupted and because we see everything through his perceptive, our eyes and sense of the real is corrupted as well. This is magnified with the use of the rotoscope animation, which creates an even more trippy and confusing visual experience. The film also employs a smart tool by withholding important information about the characters until the very end. While I was still confused the first time I saw it, after consequent viewing things start to make sense.

A Scanner Darkly is easily one of the imaginative, dense and unique films you’ll ever see. Writer/Director Richard Linklater blends perfectly the humor with the more tragic themes, and the film provides substantial ideas for you to think about long after it ends. Keanue Reeves gives his best performance in years and the rest of cast is flawless as each of them brings something different and cool to their respective characters.