Código 46

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.

'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.

There are not many movies I would take time to comment on, but this is definitely one of them. I really love the mood and atmosphere in this film, its very soft and slow, which proves to be very effective in escalating the sexual tension to Mount Everest levels.

The acting is superb throughout, with Samantha Morton being particularly outstanding, sexy and bizarre, a cocktail that woos Tim Robbins over and over again. Her brief graphic nudity scene was definitely an original in mainstream cinema, I'm not sure what reaction the director was hoping to get from it? but I personally feel its wasn't required, don't forget, its the things we don't see that excite us the most.

It seems that every futuristic film is compared to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, which I feel is always unfair, as Blade Runner is a classic in ever sense of the word, a true high point in the history of cinema. Code 46 does have certain parallels, forbidden love, futuristic worlds and an excellent morose tingling soundtrack, but Code 46 stands out on its own as a fantastic love story, with unique and bizarre complications and a very thought provoking look into the future.

A really good film 8/10.

This one is billed as a love story set in the "near future". I got the idea it was more of a one night stand set in the near future, considering the main character, William (Tim Robbins), was married with a son waiting back home. William is a government investigator and the girl that he fell in love with, Maria (Samantha Morton), was the person in particular that he came out to investigate.

This movie starts in a similar fashion as I, Robot, with just a definition and the law of what exactly a Code 46 is. It's kind of the same way police codes work today whereas a 187 is a homicide, etc. A Code 46 is, in a nutshell, if two people share the same "genetic identity" (read - DNA), anywhere from 25% to 100% the same, they are not permitted to conceive a child. Any pregnancy resulting from a Code 46 must be "terminated". If the parents were ignorant of their genetic identities, then medical intervention is authorized to prevent a further occurrence of a Code 46 (this was similar to the whole plot of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind where they medically make you forget who this person is and any involvement you had with him) and last, but not least, if any two people of the same genetic identity knowingly commit a Code 46, then that is a criminal offense.

That being said, you can almost guess the entire basic story but there are other little things in the movie that almost certainly have to be watched again to catch everything. I turned on the movie before I was ready to commit my full attention to it and found myself playing catch-up the rest of the time, so make sure the film has your full attention.

The world here seems a little bit like in Demolition Man, but more realistic and less intense. You need what is called a "papelle" in order for you to enter a real city through a checkpoint and if you do not have one, you are doomed to stay outside of any major cities. In reality, this was more similar to Tijuana. They were mobbed by people selling fruits or whatever to anyone that stopped near them, etc., which was a more likely realistic future than that of Demolition Man.

Also, the language and people were more of a melting pot around the world. Just about everyone primarily spoke English, but no one said "Thank you", it was "Gracias" and other little things of that nature.

Tim Robbins style in this movie reminds me of Jeff Daniels for some reason. I think it is his voice acting, there's not much else to act with here and I really think he came out looking kind of stale. Samantha Morton looked like Sinéad O'Connor and not very attractive, but I believe her performance was a little more believable, although not great.

With all that in mind, you really have to be in the right mood to watch this. It's definitely a movie that you have to think about to understand what is happening and you can't just sit with a tub of popcorn and be entertained. Take that in consideration and decide for yourself if this is your type of movie. I honestly did not care for it, but can appreciate the little things that went on in the movie and I realize that just because it isn't for me, it is still pretty good. 7/10