Waking Life

2025-10-23T02:34:02Z

2600:1700:BD20:77B0:2176:78D:D8FF:EBEC: /* External links */

{{short description|2001 American film}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Waking Life
| image = Waking-Life-Poster.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = [[Richard Linklater]]
| producer = {{plainlist|
* Palmer West
* Jonah Smith
* [[Tommy Pallotta]]
* Anne Walker-McBay
}}
| writer = Richard Linklater
| starring = [[Wiley Wiggins]]
| music = Glover Gill
| cinematography = {{plainlist|
* Richard Linklater
* Tommy Pallotta
}}
| editing = [[Sandra Adair]]
| studio = {{Plainlist|
* [[IFC Films|Independent Film Channel Productions]]
* [[Thousand Words]]
* Flat Black Films
* Detour Filmproduction
}}
| distributor = [[Fox Searchlight Pictures]]
| released = {{Film date|2001|1|23|[[Sundance Film Festival|Sundance]]|2001|10|19|United States}}
| runtime = 101 minutes<ref>{{cite web|title=''WAKING LIFE'' (15)|url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/waking-life-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0znde4mjq|work=[[British Board of Film Classification]]|date=September 19, 2001|access-date=May 6, 2013|archive-date=October 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221010071241/https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/waking-life-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0znde4mjq|url-status=live}}</ref>
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget = $2 million
| gross = $3.2 million<ref>{{cite web|title=''Waking Life'' (2001)|work=[[Box Office Mojo]]|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=wakinglife.htm|access-date=March 20, 2010|archive-date=October 22, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022142704/http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=wakinglife.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}

'''''Waking Life''''' is a 2001 American [[Adult animation|adult animated]] [[Surrealist cinema|surrealist]] [[Drama (film and television)|drama]] film written and directed by [[Richard Linklater]]. The film explores a wide range of [[philosophical]] issues, including the nature of [[reality]], [[dream]]s and [[lucid dream]]s, [[consciousness]], the [[meaning of life]], [[free will]], and [[existentialism]].<ref name="Kehr"/> The series of philosophical discussions at the core of the film are processed by a young man who wanders through a succession of dreamlike realities wherein he encounters a series of interesting characters playing themselves.

Shot in [[DV (video format)|Mini DV]] camera, the film was edited digitally in animation through [[rotoscoping]]. It contains several parallels to Linklater's 1990 film ''[[Slacker (film)|Slacker]]''. ''Waking Life'' premiered at the [[2001 Sundance Film Festival]], and was released on October 19, 2001. It received critical acclaim<ref name="Metacritic" /> but underperformed at the box office.

==Plot==
An unnamed young man lives an ethereal existence that lacks transitions between everyday events and eventually progresses toward an [[existential crisis]]. He observes quietly but later participates actively in [[Philosophy|philosophical]] discussions involving other characters—ranging from quirky scholars and artists to everyday restaurant-goers and friends—about such issues as [[metaphysics]], [[free will]], [[social philosophy]], and the [[meaning of life]]. Other scenes do not include the protagonist but rather focus on an isolated person, a group of people, or a couple engaging in such topics from a disembodied perspective. Along the way, the film also touches upon [[existentialism]], [[Situationist International|situationist]] politics, [[posthuman]]ity, the film theory of [[André Bazin]], and [[lucid dream]]ing, and references various intellectual and literary figures by name.

Gradually, the protagonist realizes that he is living out a perpetual dream, broken up only by occasional [[false awakening]]s. So far, he is mostly a passive onlooker, though this changes during a chat with a passing woman who suddenly approaches him. After she greets him and shares her creative ideas with him, he reminds himself that she is a figment of his own dreaming imagination. Afterward, he starts to converse more openly with other dream characters, but begins to despair about being trapped in a dream.

The protagonist's final talk is with a character (played by Linklater) whom he briefly encountered earlier in the film. This conversation reveals this other character's view that reality may be only a single instant that a person interprets falsely as time (and, thus, life); that living is simply the person's constant negation of God's invitation to become [[God becomes the universe|one with the universe]]; that dreams offer a glimpse into the infinite nature of reality; and that to be free from the illusion called life, one need only accept God's invitation.

The protagonist is last seen walking into a driveway, when he suddenly begins to levitate, paralleling a scene at the start of the film of a floating boy in the same driveway. The protagonist uncertainly reaches for a car door handle but is too swiftly lifted above the vehicle and over the trees. He rises into the endless blue expanse of the sky until he disappears from view.

==Cast==
*[[Wiley Wiggins]] plays the protagonist.

The film features appearances from a wide range of actors and non-actors, including:
{{div col}}
* [[Eamonn Healy]]
* [[Timothy "Speed" Levitch]]
* [[Adam Goldberg]]
* [[Nicky Katt]]
* [[Ethan Hawke]] as [[Before Sunrise|Jesse]]
* [[Julie Delpy]] as [[Before Sunrise|Céline]]
* Steven Prince
* [[Caveh Zahedi]]
* [[Otto Jürgen Hofmann|Otto Hofmann]]
* [[Richard Linklater]]
* [[Alex Jones]]
* [[Kim Krizan]]
* [[Louis H. Mackey]]
* [[Steven Soderbergh]]
* [[David Sosa]]
* [[Robert C. Solomon]]
* [[Steve Brudniak]]
{{div col end}}

==Production==

=== Pre-production ===
In a 2001 interview, Linklater estimated that the idea for the film came "before I was even interested in film, probably 20 years ago."<ref name="AVclubinterview">{{cite web|last1=Tobias|first1=Scott|title=Interview with Richard Linklater|url=https://www.avclub.com/article/richard-linklater-13739|website=AV Club|date=October 17, 2001|access-date=20 March 2017|archive-date=July 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731153304/http://www.avclub.com/article/richard-linklater-13739|url-status=live}}</ref> For a while he felt the idea for the film "didn't quite work", calling it "too blunt, too realistic"<ref name="IGN">{{cite web|last1=D.|first1=Spence|date=October 20, 2001|title=Interview with Richard Linklater|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/10/20/interview-with-richard-linklater|access-date=March 20, 2017|website=IGN|archive-date=March 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320234341/http://www.ign.com/articles/2001/10/20/interview-with-richard-linklater|url-status=live}}</ref> and saying, "I think to make a realistic film about an unreality the film had to be a realistic unreality".<ref name="IGN" />

The live-action footage was shot by Linklater and Palotta in [[DV (video format)|Mini DV]] camera with real actors—including [[Ethan Hawke]] and [[Julie Delpy]], who reprise their characters from ''[[Before Sunrise]]'' (1995) in one scene<ref name="MSNBC" /><ref name="Obsessed" />—over six weeks, starting in August 1999. Its original scenes of the footage later featured as extra editions in [[DVD]].<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akLbLR2Xvd8 |title=Waking life original footage |date=2019-09-30 |last=Jack Dawson Sparrow |access-date=2025-06-09 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

=== Post-production ===
To create that visual effect, Linklater used an animation technique based on [[rotoscoping]], in which animators overlay the live-action footage with animation that roughly approximates the images actually filmed.<ref name="Animating" /><ref name="WP" /> Linklater employed a variety of artists, so the movie's feel continually changes, producing a [[surrealism|surreal]], shifting dreamscape.

The animators used standard [[Apple Macintosh]] computers. The film was mostly produced using [[Rotoshop]], a rotoscoping program that creates blends between [[key frame]] vector shapes, which also uses virtual "layers", designed specifically for the production by [[Bob Sabiston]]. Linklater used this animation method again in his 2006 film ''[[A Scanner Darkly (film)|A Scanner Darkly]]''.

==Release==
''Waking Life'' [[Film premiere|premiered]] at the [[Sundance Film Festival]] in January 2001. The film was given a limited release in the United States on October 19, 2001.

===Reception===
On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film has an approval rating of 81% based on 145 reviews, with an average rating of 7.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "''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."<ref name="RT"/> On [[Metacritic]], which uses a [[weighted average]], the film has a score of 82 out of 100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref name="Metacritic"/> [[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave the film four stars out of four, calling it "a cold shower of bracing, clarifying ideas".<ref name="Sun-Times"/> Ebert later included the film on his list of "Great Movies".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ebert |first1=Roger |title=All we see and all we seem is but a dream within a dream |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/waking-life-2001-1 |website=RogerEbert.com |access-date=1 May 2022 |date=February 11, 2009 |archive-date=May 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220501152144/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/waking-life-2001-1 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[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".<ref name="Schwarzbaum"/> [[Stephen Holden]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote it was "so verbally dexterous and visually innovative that you can't absorb it unless you have all your wits about you".<ref name="Holden"/> [[Dave Kehr]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' found the film "lovely, fluid, funny" and said it "never feels heavy or over-ambitious".<ref name="Kehr"/>

Conversely, [[J. Hoberman]] of ''[[The Village Voice]]'' wrote that ''Waking Life'' "doesn't leave you in a dream... so much as it traps you in an endless bull session".<ref name="Hoberman"/> [[Frank Lovece]] called the film "beautifully drawn" but its content "pedantic navel-gazing".<ref name="Lovece"/>

In 2018, Linklater addressed the inclusion of [[Alex Jones]] in the film. In an interview with [[IndieWire]], Linklater said, "I just thought he was kind of funny." He notes that he never imagined Jones would one day be taken seriously and that at the time, he did not think much of including him.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Nordine|first1=Michael|date=2018-08-12|title=Richard Linklater on Casting Alex Jones in 'Waking Life': 'I Just Thought He Was Kind of Funny'|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2018/08/richard-linklater-alex-jones-waking-life-infowars-1201993393/|access-date=2020-12-02|website=IndieWire|language=en}}</ref>

Nominated for numerous awards, mainly for its technical achievements, ''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.

The film is recognized by [[American Film Institute]] in these lists:
* 2008 – [[AFI's 10 Top 10]]: Nominated Animation Film<ref>{{cite web|url=http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/10top10.pdf?docID=381&AddInterest=1781 |title=AFI's 10 Top 10 Nominees |format=PDF |access-date=August 19, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716071937/http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/10top10.pdf?docID=381&AddInterest=1781 |archive-date=July 16, 2011 }}</ref>

===Home media===
The film was released on [[VHS]] and [[DVD]] in North America in 2002. Special features included several [[Audio commentary|commentaries]], documentaries, interviews, trailers, and [[deleted scene]]s, as well as the short film ''Snack and Drink''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gonzalez|first=Ed|title=DVD Review: Richard Linklater's Waking Life on Paramount Home Video|website=[[Slant Magazine]] |date=May 13, 2002 |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/waking-life-dvd/|access-date=2020-12-02|language=en-US}}</ref> A bare-bones DVD with no special features was released [[DVD region code|in Region 2]] in 2003. A Blu-Ray was released in Germany and the UK.

==Soundtrack==
{{Main|Waking Life (soundtrack)}}
The ''[[Waking Life (soundtrack)|Waking Life OST]]'' was performed and written by Glover Gill and the [[Tosca Tango Orchestra]], except for [[Frédéric Chopin]]'s [[Nocturnes, Op. 9 (Chopin)|Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2]]. The soundtrack was relatively successful. Featuring the [[nuevo tango]] style, it bills itself "the 21st Century Tango". The tango contributions were influenced by the music of the Argentine "father of new tango" [[Astor Piazzolla]].

==See also==
* [[Dream argument]]
* [[Dream art]]
*[[Oneironautics]]
* [[Simulated reality]]

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="Kehr">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/14/movies/film-waking-up-while-still-dreaming.html?pagewanted=all |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City |date=October 14, 2001 |first=Dave |last=Kehr |title=FILM; Waking Up While Still Dreaming |access-date=July 6, 2010 |archive-date=May 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502010111/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/14/movies/film-waking-up-while-still-dreaming.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="Animating">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2001/10/47433 |title=Animating a Waking Life |first=Jason |last=Silverman |date=October 19, 2001 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |access-date=September 30, 2009 |archive-date=September 30, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930164308/http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2001/10/47433 |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="MSNBC">{{cite web |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/hawke-delpy-reunite-sunset-wbna5334809 |title=Hawke and Delpy reunite 'Before Sunset' |website=Today.com |date=July 5, 2004 |access-date=May 26, 2009 |archive-date=March 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325201857/http://www.today.com/popculture/hawke-delpy-reunite-sunset-wbna5334809 |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="Obsessed">{{cite web |author=DigitallyObsessed |url=http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showinterview.php3?ID=28 |title=dOc Scenes Interview: Dream Life: An Interview With Julie Delpy |website=DigitallyObsessed.com |access-date=May 26, 2009 |archive-date=January 6, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080106113416/http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showinterview.php3?ID=28 |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="WP">{{cite news
|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50955-2001Oct25?language=printer
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116040823/https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50955-2001Oct25/?language=printer
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=November 16, 2018
|title=Aroused by ''Waking Life''
|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]
|location=Washington DC|access-date=May 26, 2009
|last=Howe
|first=Desson
|date=October 26, 2001
}}</ref>
<ref name="RT">{{cite web
|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/waking_life
|title=Waking Life
|work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]
|publisher=[[Fandango Media]]
|location=San Francisco, California
|access-date=July 7, 2020
|archive-date=September 25, 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925093632/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/waking_life
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name="Metacritic">{{cite web
|url=http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/wakinglife
|title=Waking Life
|work=[[Metacritic]]
|publisher=[[CBS Interactive]]
|location=Chicago, Illinois
|access-date=May 26, 2009
|archive-date=May 4, 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504092608/http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/wakinglife
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>
<ref name="Sun-Times">{{cite news
|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/waking-life-2001-1
|title=Waking Life
|work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]
|publisher=[[Sun-Times Media Group]]
|location=Chicago, Illinois
|date=October 19, 2001
|access-date=May 26, 2009
|last=Ebert
|first=Roger
|author-link=Roger Ebert
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=May 29, 2013
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529022152/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/waking-life-2001-1
}}</ref>
<ref name="Schwarzbaum">{{cite magazine
|url=https://ew.com/article/2001/10/18/waking-life-2/
|title=Waking Life
|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]
|publisher=[[Meredith Corporation]]
|location=New York City
|access-date=February 13, 2021
|last=Schwarzbaum
|first=Lisa
|author-link=Lisa Schwarzbaum
|date=October 18, 2001
|archive-date=April 18, 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418145457/https://ew.com/article/2001/10/18/waking-life-2/
|url-status=live
}}</ref>
<ref name="Holden">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/12/movies/12WAKI.html |title=Surreal Adventures Somewhere Near the Land of Nod |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York City|date=October 12, 2001 |access-date=May 26, 2009 |last=Holden |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Holden|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100507095817/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/12/movies/12WAKI.html |archive-date=May 7, 2010 }}
</ref>
<ref name="Hoberman">
{{cite journal
|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2001-10-16/film/sleep-with-me/1
|title=New York Movies – Sleep With Me
|publisher=[[Village Voice Media]]
|journal=[[The Village Voice]]
|location=New York City
|access-date=May 26, 2009
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090117065104/https://www.villagevoice.com/2001-10-16/film/sleep-with-me/1
|archive-date=January 17, 2009
|last=Hoberman
|first=J.
|date=October 16, 2001
}}
</ref>
<ref name="Lovece">{{cite web
|url=http://movies.tvguide.com/waking-life/review/135385
|title=Waking Life Review
|publisher=[[TVGuide.com]]
|access-date=May 26, 2009
|last=Lovece
|first=Frank
|archive-date=October 17, 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017035924/http://movies.tvguide.com/waking-life/review/135385
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book | last = Jones | first = Kent | title = Physical Evidence: Selected Film Criticism | publisher = Wesleyan University Press | location = Middletown | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0-8195-6844-1 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/physicalevidence00jone/page/76 76–78] | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/physicalevidence00jone/page/76 }}
* {{cite book | last = Rosenbaum | first = Jonathan | title = Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons | url = https://archive.org/details/essentialcinemao0000rose | url-access = registration |chapter=Good Vibrations | publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press | location = Baltimore | year = 2004 | isbn = 0-8018-7840-3}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title|0243017}}
* {{Mojo title|wakinglife}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|waking_life}}
* {{Metacritic film}}

{{Richard Linklater}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Animated Film}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waking Life}}
[[Category:2001 films]]
[[Category:2001 American animated films]]
[[Category:2001 drama films]]
[[Category:2001 fantasy films]]
[[Category:American avant-garde and experimental films]]
[[Category:American animated drama films]]
[[Category:American animated fantasy films]]
[[Category:Films about dreams]]
[[Category:Magical realism films]]
[[Category:2000s English-language films]]
[[Category:Fox Searchlight Pictures films]]
[[Category:Animated films directed by Richard Linklater]]
[[Category:Rotoscoped films]]
[[Category:2000s fantasy drama films]]
[[Category:Films shot in Texas]]
[[Category:Films shot in Austin, Texas]]
[[Category:Films shot in San Antonio]]
[[Category:Films about philosophy]]
[[Category:Metaphysical fiction films]]
[[Category:Existentialist films]]
[[Category:2000s avant-garde and experimental films]]
[[Category:American adult animated films]]
[[Category:Before trilogy]]
[[Category:American independent films]]
[[Category:2001 independent films]]
[[Category:English-language independent films]]
[[Category:Films about conversations]]

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Waking Life