Through A Scanner, Darkly…

Down­load: Thom Yorke — “Black Swan”

Thoughts on the book. No, not that one.

Lin­klater does quite a fine job com­pen­sat­ing for PDK’s nar­ra­tive voice, which is as wob­bly as it is unre­li­able. Unlike Wak­ing Life, Lin­klater hews clos­er to pho­to­graph qual­i­ty images, leav­ing any fuzzi­ness to the log­ic that per­tains to drug abuse and the para­noia explic­it in sur­veil­lance cul­ture. Free from ani­mat­ed dis­tor­tions, A Scan­ner Dark­ly con­veys Dick­’s cau­tion­ary mes­sage with­out hav­ing to resort to pater­nal­is­tic cant, more or less.

In short, agency is a fun­ny and dan­ger­ous thing. The role of the State is pre­car­i­ous and some­times crim­i­nal too.