Scan 24 Minutes of “Darkly”

“A Scanner Darkly” hit theaters last week in the US. Clearly its a small film and lacks mass appeal but the producers and/or studio thought it would be a great idea to release the first 24 minutes of the film to view online… for free! Well at first I wasn’t sure I wanted to check it out, nor did I see the point. I mean the fact that this film has been labored on so long through rotoscoping and all sorts of wild new technology merits a big screen viewing right? It just felt disrespectful to me… Furthermore if I watch the first 24 minutes, and like it, then I have to go to a theater and rewatch the first 24 minutes again! Not cool. I mean, why not just cut a trailer that gives the feeling the movie should have… if that doesn’t get people to see your movie, this sure shouldn’t. Having said that, I saw the footage, and I loved it. Those 24 minutes zipped by, and when you realize the entire film is only 97 minutes long… wow! I need to finish reading the book this weekend, then head out to one of the 3 theaters playing it in my town (yeah, that’s more then I expected) to check it out. I just know that if I watch the movie before reading the book I’ll never read the book.

So, to recap… a little screwy on the point of this 24minute preview… I was going to see this movie anyway, so I’m not a good judge of wether it changed anything for me, but if you don’t want to see the preview, and you’re not sure whether you should check out the movie, then I offer my 2 cents. Go see it! It’s fast paced, animation looks breath-taking, trippy concept, funny performances from Robert Downey Jr. and Woody Harrelson, and the return of Winona (which I mention simply because she’s one of the most attractive women I’ve ever seen… so there).