A Scanner Darkly (Summer 2006)
Rated: R
Genre: Science Fiction

“A Scanner Darkly” -- starring Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder and Rory Cochrane and directed by Richard Linklater -- depicts a future
Donna Hawthorne (Winona Ryder) is the love interest and drug dealer to Bob Arctor(Keanu Reeves).
 where America has lost the war on drugs. Like a graphic novel come to life, “A Scanner Darkly” uses live action photography overlaid with an advanced animation process (called interpolated rotoscoping) to create a haunting, highly stylized vision of the future.

This cautionary tale of drug use, based on the novel by Philip K. Dick and his own experiences, covers some big social issues while depicting the destructive nature of addiction.

In a heavily surveillanced America, 20 percent of its citizens are addicted to a new illicit drug called Substance D -- or “death” by its users. An organization called New Path is providing rehab for recovering D addicts, but their methods are mysterious and their treatment centers are impenetrable unless you are an addict as determined by invasive psychological exams.

Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) is an undercover narcotics agent, but has gotten so deep in his acquired identity he becomes addicted to Substance D. Sharing the company
"A Scanner Darkly" was shot, locked and edited just like a normal live-action film -- and was then brought to the world of pop art through a 15-month long computer animation process.
 of quirky comrades and fellow junkies, Charles Freck (Rory Cochrane), Jim Barris (Robert Downy Jr.) and Ernie Luckman (Woody Harrelson), along with a constant supply of “death” from his girlfriend and drug dealer, Donna Hawthorne (Winona Ryder), Arctor begins to lose himself as his drug addiction destroys his brain cells, splits his personality and leads him down a paranoid journey where nothing – especially loyalties – are as they seem.