"Waking Life" at Rozz-Tox -- June 4.
Thursday, June 4, 7 p.m.
Rozz-Tox, 2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island IL
With Stephen Holden of The New York Times calling the film "so verbally dexterous and visually innovative that you can't absorb it unless you have all your wits about you,” Waking Life enjoys a June 4 screening at Rozz-Tox, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Richard Linklater's animated 2001 classic the latest presentation in the Rock Island venue's popular Filmosofia series.
An adult animated surrealist drama with comedic elements, Waking Life explores a wide range of philosophical issues, including the nature of reality, dreams and lucid dreams, consciousness, the meaning of life, free will, and existentialism. The series of philosophical discussions at the film's core are processed by a young man who wanders through a succession of dreamlike realities wherein he encounters a series of characters playing themselves. Shot in Mini DV camera, the film was edited digitally in animation through rotoscoping. It contains several parallels to Linklater's 1990 film Slacker, and famously features a conversation between the young lovers Jesse and Celine whom Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy played in Linklater's 1995 Before Sunset (and again in 2004's Before Sunset and 2013's Before Midnight.) Waking Life premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, and was released nationally on October 19, 2001.
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 81-percent "freshness," the website's critical consensus reading: "Waking Life's inventive animated aesthetic adds a distinctive visual component to a film that could easily have rested on its smart screenplay and talented ensemble cast." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 82 out of 100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four, calling it "a cold shower of bracing, clarifying ideas.” Ebert later included the film on his list of "Great Movies.” Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly awarded the film an "A" rating, calling it "a work of cinematic art in which form and structure pursue the logic-defying (parallel) subjects of dreaming and moviegoing.” And Dave Kehr of The New York Times found the film "lovely, fluid, funny," and said it "never feels heavy or over-ambitious.”
The June 4 Filmosofia screening of Waking Life will be preceded by a discussion on philosophical themes hosted by Augustana College's Dr. Deke Gould, the reading selection being “Alegory of the Cave” from Plato's Republic. (Free print copies are available in the cafe.) A discussion will also take place following the 100-minute film, admission is free, and more information is available by calling (309)200-0978 and visiting RozzTox.com.
