Code 46

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

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~

'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.

Code 46 is a film that puts its heart ahead of its head. Fortunately there are times when I can cherish such an endeavour so it worked for me, but I'm not the sort of viewer to tune out my head entirely so it didn't entirely work. For a plot, we have an fraud investigator in a dystopian future falling for his chief suspect. There's romance and plot developments, but the romance is key, the film is a study in wistful mood over and above its narrative. The driving force is the sparking of love in a time of such uncertainty it seems near impossible, a future of uncertain (and perhaps dangerous) genetic identities and instant personality alterations. A time in which mankind has gone so far with genetic experimentation that intrusive legislation and rigid border controls are the governments only tool to keep things under control, with Tim Robbins as or protagonist working to do just that. Now the above might give the impression of science fiction intrigues in a distant new world, but the design is modern with little visually (apart from a pretty awesome road junction) to set it apart from our world, generally conversation and some cold interior designs are what creates its sense of future. As for intrigue, well this gets us to the trouble with the film. Thematically, the potential is high, but by and large the issues are little more than brought up and laid down, if brought up at all. So no serious delving into the moral and biological consequences of events, nor the problems raised by personality alteration viruses, nor even much of a process of realisation/rebellion by our lead. What's there instead is charm, a gentle look at quiet, irresponsible burgeoning romance, deftly essayed by the leads and buttressed by sweet presentation. Tim Robbins does well in suggesting a questing soul beneath a smiling, sincerely insincere exterior, while Samantha Morton is a delight as the object of his affections. With hair cut short and a childlike naiveté she near shimmers in other-world loveliness, a truly likable turn. They have fine chemistry too, so their relationship is a fine one to ride with, much aided by the cinematography and score. Some places look suitably sterile here, but a lot of places are shot with soft, dreamhaze hues as if coming to from a medicated slumber, fitting to the plot. The music, mostly from The Free Association is wistful and shoegazey, again appropriate. The ending does however really spoil the mood established by the wordless score by employing a Coldplay song. I'm probably biased because I loathe Coldplay anyway but even taking that into account I don't think any vocals would really have suited the end of this one. I'm in danger of selling this one perhaps more than it truly deserves, but I did like it a lot. The lack of substance is a big drawback, but maintains a near constantly pleasing tone even if I wasn't thinking much about it after viewing. 7/10 from me, one for romantics methinks.