Waking Life

Waking Life
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRichard Linklater
Written byRichard Linklater
Produced by
StarringWiley Wiggins
Cinematography
  • Richard Linklater
  • Tommy Pallotta
Edited bySandra Adair
Music byGlover Gill
Production
companies
Distributed byFox Searchlight Pictures
Release dates
  • January 23, 2001 (2001-01-23) (Sundance)
  • October 19, 2001 (2001-10-19) (United States)
Running time
101 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2 million
Box office$3.2 million[2]

Waking Life is a 2001 American animated film written and directed by Richard Linklater. The film explores a wide range of philosophical issues, including the nature of reality, dreams and lucid dreams, consciousness, the meaning of life, free will, and existentialism.[3] It is centered on a young man who wanders through a succession of dreamlike realities wherein he encounters a series of people who engage in insightful philosophical discussions.

The entire film was digitally rotoscoped. It contains several parallels to Linklater's 1991 film Slacker. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy reprise their characters from the 1995 Before Sunrise in one scene.[4][5] Waking Life premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, and was released on October 19, 2001, where it received critical acclaim;[6] however, it underperformed at the box office. It was the first traditionally animated film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox since Titan A.E..

  1. ^ "WAKING LIFE (15)". British Board of Film Classification. September 19, 2001. Retrieved May 6, 2013.
  2. ^ "Waking Life (2001)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kehr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference MSNBC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Obsessed was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Metacritic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).