Waking Life

(2001)

★ 7.5 IMDb · 980 votes

Genres: Animation, Drama, Fantasy

Year: 2001

Runtime: 99 мин

Country: United States of America

Director: Ричард Линклейтер

Cast: Итан Хоук, Жюли Дельпи, Уайли Уиггинс, Bill Wise, Alex E. Jones, Стивен Содерберг, Ken Webster, Charles Gunning, Lorelei Linklater, Trevor Jack Brooks

Plot

Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life.

Dreams. What are they? An escape from reality or reality itself? Waking Life follows the dream(s) of one man and his attempt to find and discern the absolute difference between waking life and the dreamworld. While trying to figure out a way to wake up, he runs into many people on his way; some of which offer one sentence asides on life, others delving deeply into existential questions and life's mysteries. We become the main character. It becomes our dream and our questions being asked and answered. Can we control our dreams? What are they telling us about life? About death? About ourselves and where we come from and where we are going? The film does not answer all these for us. Instead, it inspires us to ask the questions and find the answers ourselves.