A Process Of Elimination

[ewx]

I think going to the Milton Maize Maze after watching A Scanner Darkly rather than before would have been much more disturbing. For all that I've read the book a couple of times I think it's worth watching twice, to see how it stands on its own rather than understanding it through familiarity with the source material. And I would say that the answer is that it does it well.

(Also it's long enough since I've read the book that the film is forced to stand alone now...)

Total Recall plays a bit with questions of reality, but Arnie's never really fooled for long ("consider this a divorce"). Scanner does a much better job: it's much clearer to the viewer that the characters are having real trouble with distinguishing reality from the effects of the drugs they're taking. Freck and Barris are obviously not the sharpest tools in the box, but Arctor's hallucinations are shown as coherent and inescapable; his personal experience of reality has unambiguously shifted.

Comments

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Ah! I didn't know, or had forgotten, that Total Recall was based on a short story. I thought it was rather good[1], as an action movie with a bit of memory play thrown in. It's rather nice to see Arnie not paralysed by doubt, but living to the full whatever he thinks. But if you wanted a film that explored the issue you'd be disappointed, Scanner Darkly does do that, and do it well.

[1] Unlike, say, Running Man, from what I remember.

[arnhem.livejournal.com]

Total Recall, at the beginning, has one of the technicians saying (of the dream tape) "hey that's the blue skies ending", doesn't it? [ or did I imagine it ... ? ]

[rmc28]

I remember it as "hey, is that a blue sky on Mars?" rather than a specific reference to an ending.

[xanna.livejournal.com]

Ooh, we went to the Maize Maze today., It was fun. What did you think?

[ewx.livejournal.com]

It seemed easier than the last time I went; which was a while ago, mind. Actually I think it would be nice if they had a year when they didn't try to make it look like something from the air and just had the kind of abstract design more usually associated with mazes.

[xanna.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think you're right. I was pleased with how difficult it was, not really knowing what to expect.