This movie really changed the way I feel about life and existence. I literally sat and just watched, open mouthed, the entire time.. It seems like most of the philosophers hit it head on, and the phenomena described are totally relatable. It is less of a movie, I think, than therapy. Who else has seen it? What effect did it have on you?

I wouldn't say it's any more enlightening than philosophy class, but it is a fascinating film. Artistically it's a bit clumsy and brutish at times; the whole "turning on/off lights in a dream" was ridiculous when our protagonist is blatantly flipping a lightswitch and marveling at it (and yet we have the brilliant symbol of the boat-car it's graceful, subtle glory), but ideologically, the movie's brilliant.

I've been in many philosophy classes, but unfortunately they were less discussing fresh, interesting ideas than beefing up on the history of Plato and Socrates. And as for the flipping of the switch, the realization that he had experienced yet another false awakening jolted him a bit.. Have you seen A Scanner Darkly? Same director, amazing film. =)

Luckily my high school had an involving introductory philosophy course. Hell, we even watched this in it.
& yes, I realize what the light switch was about it was all just a bit blatant.
The boat car, however, was brilliant in retrospect. Well, I could be wrong, but I think it's meant to be Charon's boat, for reasons I won't ruin for anyone who hasn't seen it.

Well I'll ruin it! That all really depends on what you got from the movie's ending. Do you believe that the protagonist has died, and this dream world is the infinite time he will spend in his other consciousness, with no physical body? Linklater did state that the ending was never developed under the assumption that the main character had passed away, though he didn't deny that it was a possibility. I though, rather, that the movie in itself was simply one dream, and a timeless episode from which he will eventually awaken, one day later.

I did think it extremely interesting that he gathered so much from the dreams he had. For example, talking to the red haired girl (Who describes our society as a mere ant colony, and all of us ants drifting around on autopilot) he asks her how she is able to tell him her idea for the soap opera, since he never had such thoughts in his "waking" state. It is the only time this question is brought up, and it is not sufficiently answered within the movie, which is both frustrating and admirable, since it leaves us open-ended and wanting to discover the possibilities for ourselves.