It was a long time since i saw this movie in the Fantasporto Festival but from at i remember its a movie full of originality that have the gift of combine the elements of the Sci-fi and "Noir" movies into a single movie.
In my opinion its a "must see" cult movie.

Anyone read this novel?

I guess while we're at this we have to bring up Cronenberg's eXistenZ (1999).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/

Its very odd that four movies come out in such close proximity all covering the same subject (albeit taking different approaches). Whilst eXistenZ is the furthest away from it, it still involves a very similar concept of reality.

for anyone who doesn't have darkcity, this is the best quality rip out methinks:
http://scifi.dead-donkey.com/viewtopic.php?p=19#19