Review I wrote for my myspace blog ages ago... pretty poor

A Scanner Darkly is a strange,beautiful, concept album of a film that has a baroque density which at times frustrates you but also captures precisely the experience of being on drugs. Plot and dialog sort of drift past you as your transfixed by the fantastic cell shading and colours conjured by Richard Linklater, which sort of reminds me of doing mushrooms because however dazed and confused you seem to find yourself by the script the wonderful illuminations tend to distract you anyway. Having said that , although the plot is at best testing , the number of characters and locations is few enough to keep everything familiar . As performances go, Robert Downey JR is superb as the nervy, nerdy chemistry obsessed junkie. In probably one of his finest performances he conveys the kind of guy that explains what a drug is doing to your brain while your on it brilliantly, he seems to soak himself in the difficult dialog as well , it never looks like a struggle for him which perhaps can not be said of Keanu Reeves. Reeves is typically understated and vacant , his trademark husky stoner drawl makes his delivery appear forced and difficult but his portrayal of a man truly confused by what is happening around him comes through more notably. Harelson and Ryder both put in perfectly adequate performances. Rory Cochrane's portrayal of the heavy user Freck is exaggerated but adds some much needed humor to the intellectually dense head fuck. This is definitely a film to see before you die, not because it is one of the greatest ever but it is so incredibly distinct and will remained lodged into your mind long after you've seen it.