Philip K Dick, author of the books on which Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report were based – and A Scanner Darkly. To my shame, I’ve yet to read any of his work, but I have seen all of those films. Perhaps small wonder, then, that past experience and title meant I was expecting a sci-fi film when I went to see this. And in a way it is – a bleak future where freedom is replaced with constant surveillance – but it’s rather more a film about drugs. Which kind of threw me!

The main feature of the movie is, of course, the rotoscope animation. For that alone I’m glad I saw it, as it was new(-ish) and interesting. And the morals and story were thought-provoking. Near the end, I wondered if we were going to get a conclusion, or be left to make our own – it was that kind of tone – but I was pleasantly surprised to feel satisfied with where the film left off.

However, I just didn’t get all the drugs stuff. Long, rambling, disjointed ‘stoner’ conversations left me bored and wondering what on earth was going on, and I couldn’t even remotely like most of the characters. Some of the twists I saw coming, other made me feel I was clutching in the dark to figure out where they’d come from.

Interesting, but perhaps not my cup of tea entirely. Would still be interesting to see the DVD features about the rotoscope technique, however.