Ok, straight up, this one is a deep cut. A film adaptation of a book that is kind of un-adaptable to film. I know I said that about Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas too, but that is like Curious George by comparison. Well, maybe Curious George on Acid. And I can say it for certain because in preparation I actually read the book of this last week-ish. And said to myself upon finishing, this is un-adaptable. Written by Philip K. Dick (aka Blade Runner basis and a LOT more since then), this is part autobiographical, part theological, part philosophical, part political science AND part speculative fiction, putting it right the heck over that Hunter S. Thompson druggy claptrap! It’s a lot of parts all mixed into one juicy chicken McNugget of...Cuuurazy! Seriously, I think Philip K. Dick had some unaddressed psychological issues. Or chemical imbalances. Probably a little or a lot of both.
Main character Nick Brady is having some interesting dreams lately. And they become more and more...compelling. His wife doesn’t really understand but she sees enough to kind of put up with it. Luckily for him, his best buddy is a science fiction book writer named Philip K. Dick, so Nicolas can at least talk to him about the crazy shit he’s witnessing. He calls it Valis, Vast Active Living Intelligence System. And it’s got some plans for them apparently, as society is getting further squashed by a fascist President. Not fake fascist like a lot of people imagine, this here is real fascist kind of shit. It’s Not good.
This was Philip K. Dick’s first attempt to describe some interesting events that may or may not have happened to him involving pink rays from an ancient satellite. Publishers at the time thought it was kind of unsellable rubbish, he moved on, only to return to the story again a few years later in the form of the book VALIS and its two subsequent books. Kind of. The third one “The Transmigration of Timothy Archer” is kind of “by proxy” it seems, PKD had some health issues and died at the age of 53 before suitably finishing the VALIS trilogy he was working on, way too young considering he was just finally really being recognized more for his thought-provoking storytellins. This one, like his Hugo Award-winning The Man in the High Castle (which is self-referentially mentioned here), is an alternate timeline of events setting up a certain fascist line of governance in the United States. So this film adaptation? It is a valiant effort. And at least pieces of it are actually fairly well done, given the source material. But having read the book recently, sometimes it’s a bit hard to differentiate between what you’re watching and those blanks your mind is subconsciously filling in without you knowing because your brain is crafty pudding. So, if you can find a copy of this film? It has interesting concepts, especially when considering the other books by PKD. It is surprising, actually, given some of the religious connotations he delves into. But you may want to read the book first, published after he died because, well, why not, he wasn’t gonna write any more. Just sayin. Crap. Now I have to read VALIS again, don’t I? That one is a lot thicker than this one, in pages and concept exploration.
