Rotoscoping has never been perceived as clever and attractive. Everybody hated it when Bakshi was doing it, and everybody hates it now. It is *so* not cutting edge--digital animation is cutting edge and is far uglier (I don't care how funny Shrek is supposed to be--I can't look at that crap. Give me Curious George any day.) That said, I think it was a perfect choice for this movie. Everything looks so realistic, but just a little off, leaving tracers like you'd see after dropping acid--vivid, yet fuzzy. The visual irritation is deliberate, and is a perfect transliteration of Dick's writing style to a different media. Those worthless junkie conversations that go on for hours but never go anywhere, such a vital part of the book, are intensely realized. The paranoia, more immediate now then when the book was written, is advanced by the moving outlines of the rotoscoped characters--Keanu's suit of invisibility is just the thing taken to its extreme. In this world, (our world right now, despite the claims of "7 years from now")focus is always shifting, or being shifted for us, by forces we don't recognize. This is probably the best Dick adaptation since Barjo, and maybe ever. I don't put much stock in "faithfulness" to a book--the book exists; if you do a cover version, give us a reason, bring something new. That's what Linklater has done. This is a hilarious and terrifying movie, and more immediate than any non-documentary in the festival.a

Thanks for your comment. I take it since it was not even mentioned, you are not a fan of the Ridley Scott film. I have not seen Barjo, something I will need to check out. Regardless of the subject or its appropriateness, I don't think I could ever enjoy any feature using this technique.

Oh, I'm a big Blade Runner fan, although I prefer the studio cut with the hardboiled voiceover to the director's cut with the happy little unicorn. If you remember, Dick fans kicked up quite a ruckus at the time for it being so unfaithful to the book. In many ways, I think Total Recall is a better PKD adaptation--Blade Runner is just a smashing movie. As I've said, faithfulness matters not a whit to me. I understand not liking rotoscope for any reason--same with me and computer generated stuff.

I generally prefer the original theatrical release versions of films. One of the drawbacks of the dvd format is the proliferation of these ‘directors cut’ versions, which are often nothing more than indulgences. The original Blade Runner is tighter and well paced, but you do realize the whole dustup over the narration really boils down to a prologue and epilogue spoken by Deckard?