This film suffers the same problem as Crash (the 2004 film not the Cronenberg film, I haven't seen that yet), every single scene is about the exact the same thing. In this film's case it is philosophy. The concept was interesting but it would have been much better if the filmmakers had just filmed philosophy professors and rotoscoped it in a way to make the footage visually interesting. A massive problem with the film is that characters discuss philosophy and are never heard of again. If you are going to make a film about a single subject and not offer anything else at least make it a short film. Although in Before Sunrise the characters did chat about philosophy, they also talked about love and themselves allowing us to get to know them as people. At least Before Sunrise had a love story (offering more than Waking Life) and was visually interesting because of the location (the rotoscoping in this film looks ugly, the rotoscoping in A Scanner Darkly is much better but still a little off-putting, luckily that film actually has a plot so I can forgive it).I give the film 5/10 because the concept is good and did introduce me to some interesting ideas but sadly the film offered very little else and I don't think I'll ever watch it again. A pity, I wanted to enjoy this film because of Linklater but I couldn't.Edit: I have decided to rate this movie a 3/10. This is because it doesn't feel like a movie, it's just scenes tacked onto one another without much connecting them (if anything). (04/09/2016)

A young man (Wiley Wiggins) talks to people he encounters about existential meaning. There are also various other people talking about various things. It's a lot of metaphysical gobity gook. The style of the animation is fascinating and I stayed with Wiggins for the first 20 minutes. It's weird and a cool experimental animation. I could care less about what these people say. It's meaningless and might as well be white noise.Then there is a section with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in bed. They're having a different version of their conversation in 'Before Sunrise'. It's compelling cinema for someone like me who loves that movie. After that, the movie has more gobity gook and it loses me completely. This could be a great style to do with interviews with compelling real world figures. I can imagine this with Dalai Lama or a President. This becomes unwatchable but I'm intrigued by Linklater's dream-like experiment. I only wish his experiment didn't put me to sleep.

Richard Linklater is a well respected and renowned director in Hollywood, but when he feels he has something to say, he says it with artistic integrity and never talks down to his audience.This is one of the most inspired works of art i've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. the rotoscope feature of the film only enhances the philosophical and sociological ideologies. Linklater also explored rotoscoping to a more impressive degree with A Scanner Darkly some years later. i like to watch this film as often as i can, and completely recommend it.

I always go down with the quote of Toni Morrison: "If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." It perfectly fits with "Waking Life". Richard Linklater did an amazing job by putting all the pieces of this giant philosophical puzzle, in the correct order, and gave birth to a masterpiece. I totally enjoyed it! I'd like to watch another movie(this time not as an animation),with philosophical scripts and daring ideas, of many other philosophers who were not mentioned in this work of art, to explore even more the brilliant question that has many answers but non of them true(because there is not one): "What is the meaning of life?" If I were a director, it would be one of my goals. 10/10