Code 46
Posted on March 7th, 2010 by insurance
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“Code 46″ promised much – one reviewer compared it with “Gattaca”, and the idea sounded similar indeed.
Alas for false promises! Whereas “Gattaca” is a complex, fascinating, well-acted and well-scripted sci-fi film, “Code 46″ suffers from a plot without real sense and two lead actors who cannot make us care too much about them.
An adulterous and short-lived affair between the character of Maria (Samantha Morton) and the guy investigating her for selling papeles (Tim Robbins) is cut short by Robbins, who needs to return to the city where his wife and son live. It’s hard to drum up sympathy for the affair, which seems initially to be a matter of convenience.
But then the film switches mid-gear. All of a sudden, this short affair is touted as a great love affair, and Robbins tries to find Maria, only to discover that her memory was wiped and the foetus that resulted from their having sex has been aborted. This is because their affair violated Code 46 – i.e., sexual relationship with someone who is genetically too similar to oneself.
The viewer is left to guess that this is because of cloning. To be honest, it could be because of odd mutations, of strange delineations in calling some types of genetic codes “similar”, or anything else – because it’s never stated.
Robbins now sets out to re-awaken Maria’s memory of him, and to bypass the automatic rejection mode implanted in her consciousness with regards to having sex with him. It becomes silly… and once again, the pair are caught out, with Robbins’ character having HIS memory wiped this time, and Maria sent into exile.
There are some truly foolish elements in this story – including the empathy virus, the whole issue of the state assuming responsibility for aborting someone’s child and wiping an individual’s memory, the lack of explanation about why some people are denied papeles… It’s as though some good ideas were presented, but the scriptwriter was too lazy to incorporate them and explain them.
The character of Maria has dreamed every year of a mysterious and somehow meaningful train journey, in which she must reach a destination or forever be lost. It’s actually not a bad idea – it could have worked. But… it fails in the execution, and it fails as a reasonable element in the storyline.
The final image of Maria, exiled in the desert area, is quite poignant, but it’s really the only image that works.
I think the main disappointment for me was the lacklustre acting. The film failed to ignite, and that’s due to both the directing (dreadful) and the acting (unfortunately tedious).
In short – a disappointing film.
Rating: 1 / 5
Take moments of Blade Runner, the lost themes of Lost in Translation, and the haunting images of Gattaca and mix them all into a big bowl, your final product would look something like Code 46. Winterbottom’s vivid imagination and intelligent storytelling is proven once again as he successfully builds another chapter into sci-fi’s growing history. His ability to take a simple story about a forbidden love and transform it to a different time and culture was outstanding. His themes of love, laws, and family are so dominate that he is able to handle them with the greatest of ease and use them to even paint a bolder picture. Code 46 is an instant Winterbottom classic with the professionally superb acting by Robbins and Morton, the cinematic eye candy of our future, as well as a tight script that allows the viewer experience it over and over with new references every time. Winterbottom proves that no genre is too small for him to tackle.
To begin, look at that chemistry between Robbins and Morton. The sparks were literally flying out of my television when they were together on-screen. Their presence together fueled this film to a new level by creating a truth to their relationship. We were rooting for something that was illegal in today’s society as well as this fictitious futuristic one. That is a hard concept to grasp for most audiences, but with Winterbottom behind the camera guiding this masters through the motions, it came across as nothing more than pure art. Robbins has this ability to make every character he touches into this humanistic screen element of yourself. You see yourself in this man as he struggles with the truths that surround him. He isn’t just having an affair, he is in love with someone that the law will not allow. That would be hard to pull off for any actor, but Robbins seems to hit his mark with ease. Morton is no different. She has proven time and time again that she can handle the intense films, and Code 46 is yet another demonstration. She handles herself so well, giving us so much from those big eyes that seem to speak for themselves. We sympathize with her dilemma and want her to continue so that Robbins and her can meet again and again. She is a very complex character with more layers that I could count, yet we see each and every one of them in Morton’s role. She holds nothing back and honestly gives 100% throughout the entire film. That is hard for any actor to do, but Morton does it with the greatest of ease. It is obvious that she will continue to be a strong cinematic force in Hollywood.
Second to the phenomenal acting, you have a brilliantly colorful future. While robots and genetics seem to be the dark horse of this civilization, it is a guiding light to see love emerge from it all. The beauty of the city only enhances this sensation even stronger. The contrast between the city and the desert looming outside shows no blurred lines. It helps us to see the symbolic references to our society and the lack of change to this new one. Winterbottom pulls no punches with his cinematography, taking ideas from Blade Runner and Gattaca, he thrives on the night and sunlight to show the horror and beauty of the surroundings. He does not color coat anything with fake CGI, but instead places you in this very realistic world that could eerily happen tomorrow (watch the current news and you will see the reference). Winterbottom does a great job of giving us both dimensions of this multi-faceted world.
Finally, I have to applaud Winterbottom for the script that he chose. Frank Boyce clearly has done his homework in both the sci-fi genre as well as the love-interest films. He successfully combines the two into this brilliant display of both modern and post-modern culture. He clearly defines the emotion of love through our characters, then throws a big shock through the system halfway into this epic. What we know, or thought we knew about his world changes instantly, but in a very calm and crisp way. He also imaginatively creates this era where languages do not divide us, but instead is required to know throughout the world. I thoroughly loved the idea that everyone knows all languages. It broke the thought that this was going to be an American film. The concept of the virus was impeccable. While not much is said about this invention, the consequences that it has on the film continually keep us on our toes. The mind-shattering voiceovers coupled with the actors struggle only proves that Code 46’s entire team was dedicated to the project, and sometimes that is a rarity in Hollywood.
Overall, I thought this was a welcomed change to the recycled love story syndrome that seems to plague our screens as well as a bold step in the sci-fi direction. Winterbottom continues to break new boundaries with his random choices of projects that impresses over and over and over again. For those of you that did not understand this film, I ask (wait, request) that you see it again. It cannot be enjoyed with just one viewing. Code 46 is a multi-view film that opens itself more and more to you the more often you watch it. This emotional film brought tears to my wife’s eyes. Impressive and challenging! Thanks, Mr. Winterbottom!
Grade: ***** out of *****
Rating: 5 / 5
A really amazing film!!!!! Not your typical SciFi or love story. In the not so distant future a married man investigates a counterfeiter and he falls inlove. What was really amazing about this was that it was a love story in a Sci Fi. Winterbottom’s use Highbredity (mixture) in Cinema. Winterbottom constantly used elements from other cultures so welll and so correctly, which something I dont see to often and when do see it is incorrectly used.
Rating: 5 / 5
I got the chance to watch this movie last week, and based on Tim Robbins earlier movies, I was expecting a good story.
The movie was very slow and after 40 minutes of stodgy acting, no direction and boring story, I felt compeled to turn the movie off.
I won’t spoil the story for those of you who do want to watch it, but for my money, there’s a lot better out there to watch.
Rating: 2 / 5
They could have used a condom and code 46 could have been avoided. I think that the plot makes very little sense, nonetheless the scenario is quite interesting, but its resolution is quite lacking in any dramatic construct of a story line. I also found the polyglothal lingo very distracting and ridiculous, because of the way they would pronounce, some times the actors would get in to tongue twisters. People have stated that it is a beautiful ambient film, which could be but then again, just show us long vistas of futuristic city land escapes to the tune of ambient music and do away with such a bad plot. I think it is a beautifully photographed film, but that does not make for a good film, if you what to see and existential ambient film with a futuristic plot then I would recommend you the original Solaris. So in the end I find the film to be a very very long music video, and as all music videos go it does not have to have a plot or any real storyline it only need to have very beautiful visuals. I was quite disappointed with this film.
Rating: 2 / 5