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Poster for Waking Life

Waking Life

2001 · 101 min

A dreamy, talky drift through big ideas, visually fluid and intellectually restless, asking you to ponder rather than follow a plot.

Directed by
Richard Linklater
Genres
Animation, Drama, Fantasy
Starring
Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Wiley Wiggins
Tagline
Dreams. What are they? An escape from reality or reality itself?
Overview
Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life.

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Rent in the UK
  • Amazon Video
  • Sky Store
  • YouTube
More options Data from JustWatch
Directed by
Richard Linklater
Genres
Animation, Drama, Fantasy
Starring
Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Wiley Wiggins
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • whimsicalstrength 2 of 3
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 1 of 3
  • absurdstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • identity
  • fate
  • freedom
  • faith
  • memory
Places
  • big city
  • suburbs
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • nonlinear
  • animated
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence none
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action1
Horror1
Humour4
Realism3
Romance2
Tension2
Darkness3
Complexity9
Emotional weight6

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Where to watch in the UK

Rent
  • Amazon Video
  • Sky Store
  • YouTube
Buy
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video
  • Sky Store
  • YouTube

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
animation, drama, fantasy
Directed by
Richard Linklater
Written by
Richard Linklater
Starring
Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Wiley Wiggins, Bill Wise, Alex E. Jones, Steven Soderbergh, Ken Webster, Charles Gunning
Music
Glover Gill
Cinematography
Richard Linklater, Tommy Pallotta
Runtime
101 min
Country
United States of America
Languages
English

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