My hunch is that this is one of those movies that sticks with you. Not just for days or weeks, but years. Time will tell whether this proves to be true. Or will it?

Moonlight Sonata, first movement. The music in this movie was great, but there were a few times when it would sound like it was going to go into a rendition of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. For two or three measures would sound like the beginning of it, but then the song would be something else. And every time, I felt like, "Oh, man, I wish it were Moonlight Sonata. Moonlight Sonata, Moonlight Sonata, Moonlight Sonata!" The first thing I did upon arriving home was to pop in a cd of... Moonlight Sonata!

How can this film sufficiently be described through the use of mere words, but as a series of Holy Moments?

Well, I tell you this: Any film that features, in a very early scene, a character debunking the philosophies of postmodernism in favor of existentialism is going to get my attention. In this piece of work, that's merely a launching point; something to whet the palette for the journey ahead.

For those who are not already in the know about Waking Life, a brief primer: The entire film is animated. But not a cartoon, per se. Each frame is a drawing taken from a picture of an actual piece of film. So the parts were all played by real actors, on real sets (or locations). These images were then painstakingly re-rendered by artists, often in a rather abstract manner, depending on the scene. It lends a very organic, subreal aesthetic. Sometimes, stationary objects jitter, pulsate, and flutter around due to the differences between artists' renderings of each frame.

The narrative structure is very stream of consciousness. The dialog in every scene brings the mind into an active state of questioning. When the viewer's mental curiosity becomes piqued at an idea, and the brain really starts to chew on it, the film instantly moves on to the next progression. A new venue. There is no need to explain itself. It may seem unrelated to whatever just flashed away, but the new idea complements, adds to, and may even answer in some abstract way, the dialogs which came before it.

That is really where the meat of this film resides: dialog. Scene after scene in which people express random ideas about life, dreaming, existence, deities, art, the nature of the modern world, and what life really consists of. Sometimes it comes so fast and heavy that the mind is left panting in its wake. Fortunately, there's doses of good humor sprinkled amidst the rapid fire profundity, which makes soaking it in all the more fun.

Lest it be thought that this movie only appealed in some dry, intellectual way, I'll debunk that right now. It is emotionally engaging throughout the duration, with a lingering effect on the way out of the theater afterward. There were moments where my heart felt gushing with both sadness and joy. There were moments when my soul would just want to say, "That is SO right. THIS is what we need to focus on. THIS is what it's time to think about."

So now that I've seen it, what do I do with this "dream", if anything? Does awareness imbue a responsibly? What is each moment worth? Where do we go from here? When will I wake up?

Perhaps there is nothing more than this painting in front of me. Nothing behind or beyond it. Even so, it sure is a beautiful picture.