SLIFF ’11 Review: ‘RADIO FREE ALBEMUTH’

Philip K. Dick’s groundbreaking literary work has been the source material for science fiction films for years.  Some of the many features either directly adapted from or loosely stemming from his books and short stories include Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly.  While all four of the mentioned films received critical praise from film fans and reviewers, not all of these adaptations of Dick’s work have been met with praise by his own fans.  In fact, more often than not, “Dick-Heads” have  openly criticized most of the translations for not being as faithful to the source material.  This is why it brings me great joy to announce to the many Dick fans that they should be able to breathe a sigh of relief with Radio Free Albemuth.  John Alan Simon’s interpretation of the novel is surprisingly spot-on.  Unfortunately, the film itself suffers because of this.

Set in an alternate 1985 ruled by an over-powering president, Radio Free Albemuth introduces us to a seemingly normal man: Nicholas Brady.  He works at a record store by day, but suffers from strange dreams at night.  When the power force in his nightly dreams named VALIS tells him to move, Nick packs his family and belongings up and moves to LA to land a job at a recording company.  With the guidance of his friend Philip K. Dick (yes . . . he is a character in his own story), Nick gets into a political web involving a paranoia-driven police organization, a government controlled satellite, and a strange woman named Sylvia (Alanis Morrisette).

As with most of Philip K. Dick’s work, it infuses a glaring critique of government and religion while the hero attempts to discover his own humanity.  Pretty heavy stuff.  Yet, in almost all of his stories, these idea gel perfectly to create a thought-provoking story while also being an entertaining endeavor into a futuristic world.  Radio Free Albemuth delivers on one of these two promises.  The script is filled with great ideas that is in every way truly reminiscent of Philip K. Dick.  My main issue with the film is that it gets so caught up into trying to adapt these ideas and hit specific points from the book that results in the overall film not being very exciting.  You will find yourself scratching your head as the characters move from one scene to another.  How did they find this house with this name carved into the concrete?  This was just one of several moments that are never fully explained.  In an alternate world littered with invasive cops, weird hallucinations, and an alien satellite, you would assume that the film would have a little more tension or at least life to it.  The film simply drags from point A to point B and seems confined to the budget that holds it back at times.  Shea Whigham plays the character of Philip K. Dick as if he’s more of a zen master or Buddhist monk soaking in his friend’s anecdotes.  Never really do we get more than a few facial twitches now and then for the duration of the film (excluding the finale). I do have to hand it to director John Alan Simon for composing some beautiful shots at times.

In a film about discovering one’s own humanity, Radio Free Albemuth seems to have forgotten to present its own voice.  Instead, the film feels like its trying to jump through the hoops laid forth by Dick almost thirty years ago.  At the risk of alienating myself from his legions of fans, I feel that there is a reason why Radio Free Albemuth was originally rejected by his publisher.  The book was written before his death but wasn’t released until after he passed due to the publisher’s push to have Dick edit it.  Many of the ideas found in this book and now movie have been previously explored in the writer’s many more successful sci-fi ventures.  For the Philip K. Dick purists out there, this might be seen as a welcome change to the typical Hollywood fare of his work.  Yet, for the casual sci-fi film-goer, you most likely will feel lost in sleep than lost in space.