When you hear the combination “Sci-Fi” + “Keanu Reeves”, the first thing you probably think of is The Matrix. Then nothing for a very long time and eventually maybe The Day the Earth Stood Still or Bill & Ted. Few will think of A Scanner Darkly. The dark sci-fi vision is one of the star’s best films.
What is the little-noticed A Scanner Darkly about?
Richard Linklater (Boyhood) filmed A Scanner Darkly in 2007, based on a template by sci-fi genius Philip K. Dick, who also provided the stories for Total Recall and Blade Runner – both classics of the genre. The adaptation of A Scanner Darkly gets significantly less attention. Wrongly.
In the future, America has lost the war on drugs. Like so many others, undercover investigator Fred (Keanu Reeves) is addicted to the drug Substance D, which leads to split personalities in users. This is how the drug dealer Bob is born next to Fred. And one day Fred receives the order to monitor himself. A brain-twisting confusion begins.
A Scanner Darkly
What makes A Scanner Darkly so good and disturbing?
Reason 1: The optics
Rotoscoping was used on A Scanner Darkly, making the characters and their world appear drawn. However, the lines of the star faces remain, Keanu Reeves is clearly recognizable, as are Robert Downey Jr. and Woody Harrelson. The look oscillates between deliberate alienation and clear realism. The style works as a kind of warning signal to the audience not to trust what they see. Neither can the characters.
Reason 2: Playing with identities
Because in A Scanner Darkly, the characters use so-called everyone’s suits, which allow them to assume other identities. Keanu Reeves uses one in his job as an undercover cop. And why shouldn’t the other characters do the same?
Reason 3: The unreliable narrative style
You can’t trust anything or anyone in A Scanner Darkly. With its optics, the game with changeable identities and its intentionally incomplete narrative, A Scanner Darkly creates an intoxicated paranoia in the audience. Keanu Reeves’ character is the only anchor in the film’s reality at the beginning. But as the story progresses he loses more and more of his footing and pulls you into his hole. An impressive and disturbing experience.
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Where can I stream A Scanner Darkly?
Unfortunately, A Scanner Darkly is not included in a flat rate at Amazon, Disney+, WOW, Paramount+ or Netflix. But you can rent it from Amazon, among other places *. Otherwise, the film has so far only been released on DVD in Germany and is difficult to obtain – further proof of how underestimated this Keanu Reeves gem is.
What’s the next movie starring Keanu Reeves?
Keanu Reeves is set to star in another installment in the John Wick franchise over the next two years. Also in the works is Constantine 2, the sequel to the 2005 fantasy horror.