Are You Using Your Crayons Right...?

After just wondering around in Soho with my new friend Lauren for quite a while last night, I came back home, turned on the telly and was really surprised to see, that they were showing a movie I actually never would have expected to be on TV (in Germany it didn´t even make it to the theaters I think). It´s called "Waking Life“ and it´s completely different to all others movies I´ve seen in my entire life. It´s a really philosophical movie, containing great dialogues. For some though, it might become quite a hassle to watch at some point, as it changes it´s illustrational style various times throughout the film. I think you either love it or you hate it. I fell in love with it the first time I watched it when it came out in 2001. It was directed by Richard Linklater and it was shot like a real movie, before it was turned into an animation. It´s basically about a man who shuffles through a dream, meeting various people discussing the meanings and purposes of life and the universe. I found a pretty good quote which describes it even better:

"Dreams. What are they? An escape from reality or reality itself? Waking Life follows the dream(s) of one man and his attempt to find and discern the absolute difference between waking life and the dreamworld. While trying to figure out a way to wake up, he runs into many people on his way; some of which offer one sentence asides on life, others delving deeply into existential questions and life's mysteries. We become the main character. It becomes our dream and our questions being asked and answered. Can we control our dreams? What are they telling us about life? About death? About ourselves and where we come from and where we are going? The film does not answer all these for us. Instead, it inspires us to ask the questions and find the answers ourselves.“

Written by Jeff Mellinger.

I think the artwork is amazing and so is the idea of constantly varying animation styles. In addition it´s got numerous great wisdoms and quotes in it. Such as:

"...it's like you come onto this planet with a crayon box. Now you may get the eight pack, you may get the sixteen pack, but it's all in what you do with the crayons, the colors that you're given...“

Now, I´m all worried about if I´m using my pack of crayons right...?! Anyways, if you haven´t seen it yet, I´d suggest you do.