Code 46

'Code 46' is the most beautiful film I've seen in quite some time. It's funny how something entirely new is produced when the properties of film noir and futuristic sci-fi are married. Like 'Until the End of the World,' 'Strange Days,' and 'Gattaca,' three films which 'Code 46' potently recalls, this is above all else a mood piece, wherein character and plot are secondary to the drifty, elegiac flow of the film.

The action is underplayed, and the performances have an earthy tone; Tim Robbins recalls William Hurt in 'Until the End of the World' and Bill Murray in 'Lost in Translation,' in that his perpetual jet lag has cultivated an easy, weary charm. The movie is set, one gathers, in the future (or an "alternative present," to paraphrase another reviewer). Like the best futuristic films, it's set on the same planet Earth, but the planet's simply been restructured; the old occupants have left and the new ones have moved in. No longer are there countries, only cities, only business destinations.

Pleasure is not a goal, but a side effect. The locations photographed are, as in 'Alphaville,' as in 'Sans Soleil,' not manipulated or artificial, but they are photographed in a new way. Contemporary cities look futuristic, commercial, busy, cold, with pools of dark glass and beads of light from skyscraper windows. For me, this kind of imagery is the among the most romantic and evocative. Cold, impersonal environments like these simultaneously forbid and necessitate human warmth. Intimacy becomes something to escape into.

Michael Winterbottom and his screen-writing partner Frank Cottrell Boyce have done great work before, and inevitably, a lot of viewers and critics are dismissing 'Code 46' as a number of things, including listless and convoluted, but I think that's symptomatic of approaching this film with the wrong expectations. Far beyond simply being a trivial footnote in what will hopefully be a career of formidable longevity, I think 'Code 46' is perhaps Winterbottom's best work yet, the movie I intuited Winterbottom had dormant in him. The movie has a sort of purging effect, like Wenders' 'Until the End of the World,' and as with that film, my immediate environment felt different to me, changed, upon exiting the theater.

I loved this film! It was (to my cinematographically uncultured palate, at least) different, and the characters seemed quite unconventional. Rather than just hollow acting, I found Tim Robbins' character to be a mental curve ball, which completely altered the way the film played out. It hinted at the socialisation and culture prevalent at the time.

I also enjoyed the (much-disputed) foreign terms slipped into the conversation - they weren't too frequent, and added a dimension - that there had been purely aesthetic as well as techno/political changes. As English becomes more dominant and other languages in the minority (and therefore more culturally significant), it is likely that foreign terms will be leaked, from the age-old Caucasian tradition of borrowing culture if nothing else.

I also loved the fact that the cityscapes were all filmed to imply the future, rather than CG'd or whatever.

The storyline was innovative, and there were many dead-ends which fleshed out the story and made it less linear. Unlike some, I easily followed the storyline, and I'm rather confused that some people felt that it didn't seem to touch on Code 46 itself much.

Interesting concepts, combined with a sense of triviality surrounding much of the technology, helped to create a more textured world, and while nothing was really explained, the evidence was there for you to draw your own conclusions. If you like thinking, definitely watch this film.

~pr0ph37~

Pre-rambling, let me just that that I loved this film and it will probably be in my top 5 for the year (along with Fahrenheit, Eternal Sunshine, perhaps Control Room).

A few things did annoy me though.

Firstly, it should have been 30 or 45 minutes longer, but it actually felt like it was too long for the current script. There were too many awkward moments, both in terms of dialogue and editing. The majority of the ideas were fantastic, but a few scenes and characters needed more exploration. I know that the movie was essentially set over 2 or 3 days, but it still felt like everyone was in too much of a rush. It's not that the movie was confusing, just that too many events were left to the viewer to explain (or excuse). This is all just a roundabout way of saying that the script needed to be fleshed out some more.

And, while it was nice to see a few British film & television actors grab cameo roles (ie Benedict Wong from State of Play, Dirty Pretty Things; Nina Sosanya from Teachers [!]), it also woke me up to the fact that it was only a film in a way that seeing for instance Tim Robbins had not. It was weird, and I can't exactly explain it, but seeing them was simultaneously cool (hey good for them) and disappointing (you mean this isn't real?) at the same time. (And don't get my started on Benedict's accent...). Obviously, for people who aren't overly familiar with British TV this is all a moot point but it still freaked me out enough to mention it.

Anyway, nearly everything about the movie is great. The music, cinematography, directing, acting (overall), etc.. are all fantastic, and the movie has as much style as Solaris (moreso the remake) or Blade Runner. They even manage to make Coldplay sound non-cheesy towards the end of the film. It just needed a bit more substance.

8/10

I liked how the movie didn't scream at me, trying to deafen me with whatever kind of message the actors and director wanted to convey... I had to work a little bit to see what there was to be seen - which I like, and I found the lack of CGI and laser guns thoroughly refreshing. The pace was right, and the music fit the mood of the movie.

The movie as a whole has a distinct human quality like I used to enjoy in those 50's sci-fi stories the way Philip K. Dick could write them. The same atmosphere that's usually gone in Dick's flashy Hollywood rewrites.

The intercultural lingo is a lot of fun to listen to, it's not too tacky and not too overdone, it sounds almost natural to me.

All in all a good 8 out of 10 stars from me. If there was more of a puzzle to be solved throughout the film (it does have you wonder where things are going in the beginning) I would have probably rated it even higher, because I like my stories a little mysterious and not too straightforward. I can imagine that some people find the acting slightly too bland for their tastes, but I feel it's far better to err on the side of caution than to produce another vehicle for overacting and improbable characters.

In the near future, Tim Robbins is sent to investigate a case of forged passports. This Orwellian government has strict control over everything. Unfortunately for Tim, he falls in love with a girl with whom he is not DNA-compatible, a violation of code 46.

Code 46 is derivative of course but ultimately it is fresh cinema, and there are several sub themes about science and morality to think about.

Most unique, i thought, was its vision of Shanghai where it seems only half the people are Asian, and everyone speaks English with just a few fundamental phrases from mandarin and Spanish. I am guessing that demographics and language are both controlled by the government. Incidentally, the classic book/movie Clockwork Orange showed a anarchistic world where English developed chaotically into a Russian mix as that was its geopolitical vision.

There are few great science fiction movies, i think this one is close to being great but in the end I think it lacked drama. But if you like science fiction, you will love this.