Waking Life

Richard Linklater is represented at this edition of the film festival with two films, Tape and Waking Life. Both have been shot with a digital camera, but that is the only similarity between them. Tape cannot be called an orthodox feature film, but with Waking Life, Linklater goes down completely new paths. The film was shot in 25 days, after which a team of more than 30 animation artists worked for nine months on `painting over’ the visual material. The result is an enchanting dream world, in which colours, lines, people and objects are continually on the move. And this form is in perfect harmony with the substance.The film follows a young student (Wiley Wiggins) on a journey through a world where the dividing line between dream and reality is extremely thin. He meets different people and learns their opinions on a wide variety of existential issues. The central question is where dream ends and real life begins. An answer is not given, the film rather increases the doubt about the existence of such boundaries.Some actors can be recognised, such as Ethan Hawke (who also plays a role in Tape), Julie Delpy (from Linklater’s Before Sunrise) and Steven Soderbergh. Observant viewers can recognise the city of Austin in the background, where Linklater recorded the raw visual material.