Science on Screen: A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Free and open to the public

Based on the novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly tells the story of a near-future dystopia in which the war on drugs has overtaken our society. Robert Arctor (Keanu Reeves), a narcotics cop in Orange County, California, is under cover so deep that he inadvertently becomes an addict. Arctor pursues Donna (Winona Ryder), a dealer, to ferret out her supplier, while simultaneously spying on his housemates (Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Rory Cochrane) to determine which of them is Donna’s biggest customer. Arctor’s ability to distinguish between his “real” life and undercover life steadily declines as the physical effects of his addiction begin to permanently take hold. Director Richard Linklater uses the distinctive rotoscoping animation technique to amplify the blurred lines of reality.

Science on Screen® at Shotgun Cinema is made possible through an initiative from the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.