Brian honestly didn't mind going to a movie with me. Something that is always surprising with a sixteen-year-old and a father. But none of his friends seemed interested, save one girl who had already seen it...

How did I like it?

I loved it.

It had the same hallucinatory experience as my first viewing of FANTASIA, save it was aimed for adults, not for kids. (Or rather, for kids at the turn between teenagehood and adulthood,when philosophical problems can take on primary importance...)

Though there was a plot, it was slow to unfold, and the rest seemed pure Art House movie---a number of people speculating on the nature of reality, of what the difference between dreams and reality is, on how the brain might live on for ten minutes or so after the brain dies...

Yet it was just gorgeous to look at. Like that Robin Williams movie, WHAT DREAMS MIGHT COME, only more so. It could have become a really boring documentary type feature...but the rotoscoping animation changed that, giving it all a hallucinatory quality.

If it had been the Sixties, ninety-nine out of a hundred people in here would have been stoned.

There was a point, early in the movie, where the various musicians were playing, and I looked behind one, and the painting behind her---the geometric shapes on it were moving and exchanging places.

The landscape, as the main character walked along, was constantly shaking and changing. It's a great movie, but not one to watch if you easily get seasick.

The artstyles kept changing, and sometimes would change to reflect each character. There was one intellectual who prattled on about evolution and change, who morphed when he was talking like Plastic Man...

Like all really good movies, it made you think, made you wonder about the nature of reality, and art, and dreamlike expression...

Yet when you got tired of thinking, there was this beautiful ever-changing artwork, going from beautifully detailed to minimalist, from Cubist to impressionist. The animation software complimented every gesture, making a man fill with water, or question marks come out of his mouth.

Every person became a visual metaphor, a symphony of symbols and styles. I didn't even recognize Ethan Hawke when he appeared, though he was drawn close to life.

Afterwards, Brian called Barb on his cellphone, and as we waited for her, tried to ignore the bad Hawaiian music floating from a nearby fraternity keg party. I kid you not.

"That's really creepy. That's the sort of music they play in a movie while a girl's being raped or something."

He was right. It was creepy.

"Promise me one thing. When you get to college, don't join a fraternity."

"Don't worry."

Somehow real life seemed near-hallucinatory, as we slowly ...came down...from that extraordinary movie.

I hope we'll see more movies made with the same technique. Very strongly recommended.