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Waking Life

Play trailer Poster for Waking Life R 2001 1h 39m Drama Animation Play Trailer Watchlist
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81% Tomatometer 144 Reviews 87% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
Transcending the boundaries of technology and imagination, "Waking Life" is a revolutionary breakthrough in film animation. In "Waking Life," Wiley Wiggins ("Dazed and Confused") travels through a series of encounters and observations in a world that may or may not be reality. It is this surreal existence, flourishing with endless ideas and possibilities, that ultimately leads to the question -- Are we sleep-walking through our waking state or wake-walking through our dreams?
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Waking Life

Waking Life

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Critics Consensus

Waking Life's inventive animated aesthetic adds a distinctive visual component to a film that could easily have rested on its smart screenplay and talented ensemble cast.

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Critics Reviews

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Nell Minow Common Sense Media 12/29/2010
4/5
Love-it-or-hate-it film best for older teens. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy Variety 10/31/2006
B+
This inventive animated film, which takes Linklater back to his roots in Austin and Slacker, represents a summation of all the philosophical concerns that have defined him as spokesperson for Gen-X. Go to Full Review
Time Out 01/26/2006
The endless philosophising is a bit sophomoric and more jokes would help, but this is one of a kind that grows more absorbing the longer it runs. Go to Full Review
Susan Sontag Artforum 05/02/2024
A melancholy youth ambles almost wordlessly through deep America -- rendered in dancy graphics -- receiving counsel from a parade of uproariously soliloquizing, exquisitely goofy pundits. Go to Full Review
Chuck Klosterman Akron Beacon Journal 10/27/2023
4/4
My sleep is never this exciting. I wish I could dream like this. Go to Full Review
B. Ruby Rich The Nation 02/25/2020
Linklater and his animation collaborators have clearly had a lot of fun, morphing characters into their own conversational subjects, destabilizing their environs, throwing the material world into question. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Stephen C @bob25009 23h The worldwide gross is $3,176,880.00. See more Irene M @igawel 1d March 2026 Can't believe I never saw this Linklater movie earlier. Very confusing at first, but when I caught on, I embraced it. Given I was watching it 25 years afterwards, it's sad to hear how optimistic so many of the philosophers are, about this century, especially Eamonn Healy’s Monologue, about evolution of AI: - Humanity is not the culmination of evolution; it is the vehicle for the next stage. - Replication + variation + selection = emergence of new forms of intelligence. - consciousness as we know it is immature. - Healy suggests that the next stage of evolution will involve a new kind of consciousness — not necessarily biological. Healy wasn’t talking about AI, but his framework aligns with the way AI researchers, philosophers, and policymakers talk today. I can't believe the scene with Alex Jones! See more E D @RT03998370 Nov 21 this is one of the best movies I've ever seen See more Jack G @Jackkg30 Oct 15 This film couldn't understand how pompous it is now. It's funny how so much of the ideas talked about in this film would be huge talking points over a decade later on YouTube. Now it's exposed as just solipsistic arrogance and pride. Coolest thing and surprise is the Alex Jones cameo. See more thiago s @Thiagostone Aug 20 Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom See more Kyle C @kylekc Jun 12 I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this! Waking Life is unlike anything I’ve seen before. Let’s start with the visuals. The animation is essentially a digital painting over live-action footage, giving it a sense of realism (or maybe surrealism) that most animated films lack. This is the kind of film I want to throw in the faces of the folks who churn out mainstream animation and shout, “Look! You can actually use animation creatively! We don’t have to settle for dull, lifeless visuals, you sheep!” Okay, maybe that’s overkill. But the point stands: Waking Life is masterful in how it uses its medium. The animation styles ebb and flow, reflecting the mood and ideas of each scene. Lightly scored by a small orchestra to whom we’re briefly introduced, the film becomes a sensory marvel. There’s a vague narrative thread, but it mostly feels like a series of loosely connected, fascinating TED Talks. It’s not a documentary, but the dialogue is raw, unfiltered, and delivered by people who feel more like real individuals than actors. Many of the scenes play like segments from an Anthony Bourdain show: intimate glimpses into interesting lives, presented with a neutral lens. The meandering philosophical conversations are deep and thought-provoking but not so dense that you feel left behind. Occasionally it edges into pretentiousness, but it never feels like the film is lecturing, just offering a window into the minds of passionate people. Waking Life begins to lose some momentum in the back half, but it still manages to deliver a satisfying conclusion to everything that came before. It’s definitely not for everyone, but if you can appreciate a unique visual experience and a wandering late-night conversation about the meaning of life, you’ll get a lot out of it. See more Read all reviews
Waking Life

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Movie Info

Synopsis Transcending the boundaries of technology and imagination, "Waking Life" is a revolutionary breakthrough in film animation. In "Waking Life," Wiley Wiggins ("Dazed and Confused") travels through a series of encounters and observations in a world that may or may not be reality. It is this surreal existence, flourishing with endless ideas and possibilities, that ultimately leads to the question -- Are we sleep-walking through our waking state or wake-walking through our dreams?
Director
Richard Linklater
Producer
Anne Walker-McBay, Tommy Pallotta, Palmer West, Jonah Smith
Screenwriter
Richard Linklater
Distributor
Fox
Production Co
Independent Film Channel, Thousand Words, Detour Filmproduction, Fat Black Films
Rating
R (Some Violent Images|Language)
Genre
Drama, Animation
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 19, 2001, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA)
$2.9M
Runtime
1h 39m
Sound Mix
Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
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