"Waking Life" is like an animated "My Dinner with Andre" so that the talking heads are certainly more interesting to look at.
The mostly rotoscope-like technique makes for more intriguing characterizations than most animation, with interesting use of character actors and intellectuals with quirky faces and attention-commanding voices, no matter what sense/nonsense they're talking about dreaming/waking/consciousness/life/death.
The cameos of such as Ethan Hawke (who is just as sexy animated as filmed) and Stephen Soderbergh and Adam Goldberg are fun to pick out.
As the scenes were taped in "real life" first, the sounds are also more realistic than animation usually utilizes, from footsteps, to breathing and location atmospherics like traffic.
(originally written 11/10/2001)
The mostly rotoscope-like technique makes for more intriguing characterizations than most animation, with interesting use of character actors and intellectuals with quirky faces and attention-commanding voices, no matter what sense/nonsense they're talking about dreaming/waking/consciousness/life/death.
The cameos of such as Ethan Hawke (who is just as sexy animated as filmed) and Stephen Soderbergh and Adam Goldberg are fun to pick out.
As the scenes were taped in "real life" first, the sounds are also more realistic than animation usually utilizes, from footsteps, to breathing and location atmospherics like traffic.
(originally written 11/10/2001)