DVD review
Directed by Richard Linklater
Starring Keanu Reeves, Richard Downey Jnr, Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder
Release date Out now

Narcotics agent Fred compiles reports on his own undercover slacker alias Bob Arctor, but his increasing addiction to a drug called substance D reduces his hold on an already tenuous reality…

There couldn’t be a better director than Richard Linklater for this adaptation of the Philip K. Dick novel. The film is one of the most faithful ever to Dick’s writing and captures perfectly the author’s paranoid vision of addiction. It’s like watching Slacker with added weirdness. That weirdness, of course, is underscored by the rotoscoping of the live-action footage to render a world in off-kilter images. The animation also cleverly serves to make the futuristic elements (for this is still definitely science fiction) look an integral part of the world – the scramble suit especially. Linklater locates the film seven years in the future, but thematically it seems very ‘now’, particularly in its theme of anxiety in a surveillance society.

A fair choice of extras include the original theatrical trailer and a 25-minute making-of documentary, which includes contributions from Dick’s daughter Isa. She also joins Linklater, star Keanu Reeves and producer Tommy Palotta on the commentary along with Dick historian Jonathan Lethem, making this a little deeper and more interesting than the usual observations about the production. For animation fans, the 20 minute documentary on the rotoscoping process is a must. Brigid Cherry

VERDICT: 9/10
Obligatory viewing for animation and Philip K. Dick aficionados alike.