2. Psy-Technicians And Reality Bending Phenomena
Like all authors of great literary work, the adaptations of Philip K Dick's material have filled in the full spectrum of "genius" to "monkeys throwing poop at each other"; Blade Runner sits squarely at one end whilst Paycheck slumps in its own faeces at the other. Despite strong efforts from the author himself during his life time, UBIK, one of Dick's most striking, hallucinatory, frightening and cinematically resonant works has never successfully been adapted for the big screen. Arguably UBIK shouldn't be on this list; after all it's never really gotten much further than a script stage. But it's the manner in which Dick wanted this story to be told visually that makes it so intriguing. In 1974 Jean-Pirre Gorin commissioned Dick to write a script based on UBIK, an act which he complied with in just a month. Nothing came of the project however and despite the odd rumour spike over the years (Tommy Pallotta, the producer of A Scanner Darkly owns the rights, Dick's daughter has spoken of movie negotiations and, as of 2011, Michel Gondry was attached to direct) there hasn't been a great deal of interest regarding an adaptation. But just listen to the kind of characteristic head trip Dick had visualised for the movie. Since UBIK's whole narrative is about an extremely unreliable form of reality that's constantly breaking down and operating under strange laws and rules the characters are not privy to, Dick suggested that during the course of the movie it constantly undergoes a series of revulsions. The quality of the film stock and image degrading and eroding and mutating until the viewer isn't sure what's part of the film and what's not, thus expanding the effect the characters are undergoing in the narrative outwards onto the viewer. Probably wouldn't make for a fun Sunday afternoon viewing but, by Christ! Doesn't half sound interesting?