My bringing up Lopate's excellent essay referred specifically to the seeming aversion on the part of reviewers who haven't liked the film partly because they find it "too talky". CK's comment that the rotoscoping will emphasize for some "their feeling that the movie is just talk" is interesting and probably right. Lopate, based on his essay, would see this critical response as a manifestation of the dumbing-down of American Cinema that's been taking place over the past couple of decades. It's a convincing, well-researched essay I recommend to everyone.

Yes, A Scanner Darkly is "one of the most satisfying American films of the year". As a matter of fact, the only 2006 film in English I liked more is a short: My Dad is 100 Years Old, a tribute to Roberto Rossellini from his daughter Isabella, directed by the wonderful Guy Maddin. Ms. Rossellini plays the following roles in the film: herself as an adult, herself as a child (voice only), Roberto Rossellini (voice only, someone else plays Roberto but all you see is his rotund belly), her mom Ingrid Bergman, producer Darryl F. Zanuck, Alfred Hitchcock, Federico Fellini, and Charlie Chaplin!

Back to A Scanner Darkly. I don't know how much the film would have to make to call it a box office success. Two and a half million after two weeks sounds good for an $8 million-budget movie. Waking Life didn't reach $3 million.

Tabuno's point about using well-known actors is valid. There's no doubt that actors create associations in the viewer's mind from roles they've played in past films and from what's said about them on TV and mags. Directors have been quite concerned about this for decades. Directors from the Italin Neo-realism liked to cast "fresh faces", Godard resisted but eventually agreed to cast la Bardot in Contempt, it may be argued that Bresson "hated" actors and Mexican enfant terrible Carlos Reygadas seems to feel the same way. On the other hand, there are times when these associations brought by stars and well-known actors are welcome because they can enrich (and complicate) a performance. For instance, I think Downey's character and perf are made more interesting by what we known of his personal life.