Waking Life (2001)
86%RT Audience Score: 87%
Awards & Nominations: 5 wins & 21 nominations
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
Waking Life” is like a dream, but not the kind where you’re running from a giant marshmallow man. It’s more like a dream where you’re having deep conversations with philosophers and artists while floating through a trippy, animated world. Some people might not be into it, but for those who are, it’s a mind-bending experience that will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about life. Plus, the animation is pretty darn cool.
Production Company(ies)
Buffalo Film Works Paramount Pictures, Platinum Dunes
Distributor
Fox
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
San Antonio, Texas, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for language and some violent images
Year of Release
2002
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 39m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 19, 2001 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 15, 2003
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
Waking Life, Drama, Richard Linklater, Wiley Wiggins, Anne Walker-McBay, Tommy Pallotta, Palmer West, Jonah Smith, R, English, Fox, Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Dolby SR, Flat (1.85:1), $2.9M, 143 Reviews, 80% TOMATOMETER, 87% AUDIENCE SCORE, Dreams, Philosophy, Existentialism, Animation, Surreal, Smart screenplay, Talented ensemble cast, Transcending technology, Imaginative, Revolutionary breakthrough, Sleep-walking, Wake-walking, Wiley Wiggins as Main Character, Trevor Jack Brooks as Young Boy Playing Paper Game, Lorelei Linklater as Young Girl Playing Paper Game, Glover Gill as Accordion Player, Lara Hicks as Violin Player, Ames Asbell as Viola Player, Reviewed by Nell Minow, Susan Stark, Emanuel Levy, Kimberley Jones, Matthew Turner, Jeff Strickler, B Ruby Rich, Brian D Johnson, Kaleem Aftab, John A Nesbit, Nick Rogers, Felix Vasquez Jr
Worldwide gross: $3,176,880
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $5,269,054
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,159
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 574,597
US/Canada gross: $2,901,447
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $4,812,231
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,821
US/Canada opening weekend: $88,977
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $147,574
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,787
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Trevor Jack Brooks – Young Boy Playing Paper Game (Voice)
Lorelei Linklater – Young Girl Playing Paper Game (Voice)
Glover Gill – Accordion Player (Voice)
Lara Hicks – Violin Player (Voice)
Ames Asbell – Viola Player (Voice)
Director(s)
Richard Linklater
Writer(s)
Richard Linklater
Producer(s)
Anne Walker-McBay, Tommy Pallotta, Palmer West, Jonah Smith
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
5 wins & 21 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (143) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (115) | Rotten (28)
Love-it-or-hate-it film best for older teens.
December 29, 2010 | Rating: 4/5
Nell Minow
Common Sense Media
TOP CRITIC
October 18, 2008 | Rating: 4/4
Susan Stark
Detroit News
TOP CRITIC
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.
October 31, 2006 | Rating: B+
Emanuel Levy
Variety
TOP CRITIC
The pictures are gorgeous, and the words, well, if you listen hard enough, the words say exactly what one needs to hear: that is, to wake up and live.
March 10, 2003 | Rating: 3.5/5
Kimberley Jones
Austin Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
An intriguing and visually impressive film squarely aimed at the art house crowd.
February 2, 2003 | Rating: 3/5
Matthew Turner
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
For a movie heralded as the cutting edge of visual innovation, Waking Life is disappointingly dull in every other respect.
November 6, 2002 | Rating: 2/4
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune
TOP CRITIC
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.
February 25, 2020
B. Ruby Rich
The Nation
It is a dream -or rather a series of waking dreams that slip into one another like those Russian dolls. It also takes computer animation in a new direction.
October 10, 2019
Brian D. Johnson
Maclean’s Magazine
Waking Life looks stunning… Animation, thesis, questions!
April 17, 2019 | Rating: 5/5
Kaleem Aftab
The List
a commercial ripoff designed to confuse art-house patrons
February 13, 2011 | Rating: D
John A. Nesbit
Old School Reviews
A far-out-man poetry slam, art exhibit and imaginative philosophical discourse all at once drifts gently down a stream of consciousness until merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, “Waking Life” is but a dream. Who says existential fiction must be dreary?
November 22, 2010 | Rating: 4/4
Nick Rogers
The Film Yap
A brilliant film that provokes thought, idea, and conversations within the audience through its surreal animation and incredibly profound conversations.
April 29, 2009
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed…
Plot
In “Waking Life,” a man travels through a surreal world of encounters and observations, questioning whether we are sleep-walking through our waking state or wake-walking through our dreams.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny comments were found in the Fresh Kernels database for Waking Life.
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