Review from: http://www.aboutfilm.com/movies/w/wakinglife-intro.htm
Introduction
A young man asleep on a train dreams of a boy and a girl playing with a with a hand-held paper puzzle that opens to reveal the words, "Dream is destiny." Later in the dream, the boy observes a shooting star and begins to float off the ground, his hand resting for a moment on the door handle of a car. At a train station, the young man calls a friend and leaves a message while a mysterious woman watches him. He hitches a lift in a car that looks like a boat, whose driver, dressed as a sea captain, tells him, "The ride doesn't require an explanation, only passengers." In the back seat, the other passenger remarks, "There's only one instant, and it's right now, and it's eternity." The young man has no destination in mind, so the other passenger instructs the driver where to drop him off. There, he finds a note in the middle of the street telling him to "look to the right." A vehicle speeds toward him from that direction, but the instant before he is struck, he awakens in bed. He awakens into a perpetual dream state. Was he hit by the car, or did he dream that, too? Will he ever awaken again?
That's the beginning of Linklater's new film, Waking Life, which uses groundbreaking animation to confront us with questions about who we are. Even though Waking Life is an incomplete and dissatisfying journey, there is a great deal of satisfaction to be found in a further exploration of the film and its themes. Part I. The Making Waking Life was created with a technique called rotoscoping. This involves coloring over footage of real actors such as Wiley Wiggins, Adam Goldberg, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, and Nicky Katt. Linklater first shot Waking Life in digital video as a live action movie in New York City, Austin, and San Antonio. The edited finished product was transferred onto computers by animator Bob Sabiston. Linklater invited some thirty artists