Uncle Patrick takes Substance D

The movie premiere was a lot of fun. Before the movie started, we stood in the line reserved for cast, crew and various hangers-on (that was us). Patton Oswalt was there! We talked with a few of the animators and learned that the film making process was not as grim as this article would have you believe. Which is a relief.

The movie was not the finished product scheduled to hit theaters this summer but it was quite good. It takes place seven years in the future, when over 20% of the population is addicted to a drug called Substance D. Substance D alters the user's sense of reality and gives a sense of euphoria but can result in brain damage. Keanu Reeves plays an undercover agent seeking to root out the members of the drug's distribution chain in Anaheim, California. Robert Downey, Jr. and Woody Harrelson play his addicted roomates. Winona Ryder plays his love interest. Rory Cochrane (who you'd recognize from his work in Dazed and Confused) plays another addict. The performances were all very good. Mr. Downey's characterization of an intelligent, amoral man whose mental synapses misfire under the influence of Substance D is particularly excellent. Mr. Cochrane's performance of a man deep within the thrall of the drug is also really good.

The animation is well used here too. The process is called roto-scoping, where the animators animate over the live-action film. By and large, the animatos show admirable retraint, using the process to give the whole movie a slick, almost greasy look, as if seen from the eyes of an addict one-step removed from reality. Although the animation is often almost indistinguishable from live action film, backgrounds can sometimes slide around or come into and out of focus. People turn into insects. Imaginary insects crawl over the skin and through the hair. The effect can be disconcerting but immersive (and I must admit there were moments when it distracted me from the dialogue or the action). The animation is most evident in the one sci-fi gimmick in the film: the scramble suit.

Undercover agents wear scramble suits to hide their identities. Scramble suits are full body suits that contantly shape-shift, flickering characteristics of different people across the wearer's body. These characteristics are not consistent across the suit (half of the torso could be a business suit, while the other half is a summer dress, while the face shifts from African-American female to Caucasian male, and so on) and the result is like a walking night-terror, a miasma of images that the viewer cannot get a handle on, hiding its wearer in plain sight. The animators really shine with this effect; I am not convinced that it could be captured effectively in any other way.

In any event, with the exceptions of the scramble-suits and the insects (which are the few instances of overt animation), the animation in this movie serves the story admirably and provides a new dimension to the experience. Highly recommended.