Although there are many films by Linklater that don't really appeal to me, I can say with certainty that he is one of the most authentic voices in American cinema. When I first saw his debut movie, Slacker, I was totally flabbergasted. The movies was a clear masterpiece and one of the fundamental films of Generation X. Afterwards I saw Dazed And Confused and my emotions were similar to these for Slacker. After those surprises I can say that I didn't find equally astonishing films in his career although there are films of his that I found extremely interesting and really nicely made (Bernie and Last Flag Flying). But when I saw Waking Life something totally weird happened inside me. Although I liked immensely the idea, the tone, the image and the flavor of the movie, I got incredibly tired by the movie. And it's a fact that Waking Life is an extremely charming movie, but at the same time is an awfully tedious one. The prose of the film is too much and too brainy.
If this movie was 80 minutes instead of 101 it would be much better. And if it had more "action" and fewer words it would be equally lovely. I think that Linklater in his eagerness to speak about everything he made a somehow mess in there. Hundreds of ideas and themes are being squeezed in that movie, ending in a headache for the audience. In the beginning of the film you're saying that is one of the best movies I have ever seen and near the end you're having difficulty even paying attention to what is happening. The dreamy, surrealistic flavor of the movie is quite astonishing and highly addictive but goes way beyond the acceptable frontiers. After some point you need, you're longing for a stability in the movie, for some kind of plot, for something, anything that would get you back in the movie again. It's needless to say though that Waking Life is a highly respectable movie and a movie that is definitely serious and daring. The objections that I have begin after the fact that we are talking, definitely, about a worthy movie.
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