Review: Code 46 (2003)
Andy Keast
Directed by Michael Winterbottom. Screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce.
Starring Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton, Essie Davis, David Fahm and Togo Igowa.
by Andy Keast
Michael Winterbottom's "Code 46" is a suitable example of the "interesting
failure." He and his screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce succeed at creating a
probable vision of the future: a dystopia characterized by birth regulations
and genetic passcodes, and inhabited by a laconic people who view a human
display of emotion as abnormal behavior -all under the umbrella of a Big
Brother-like entity known as "Sphinx." Its flaw lies in its weak script
mechanics: the film never entirely lets you in on what's happening or why. It
almost feels like raw feed from the future, with all the differences between
now and then assumed. We're lost half of the time.
Not that I minded. What you may have heard is true: if William Gibson had
authored "Brief Encounter," this would more than likely be the result. Tim
Robbins plays William Geld, a sort-of futurist version of an ATF agent
investigating an underground trade in papelles. Papelles are, from what I
gather, genetically-encoded "travel visas" allowing (or disallowing) civilians
to move from one city zone to another. His prime suspect is Maria Gonzalez
(Samantha Morton), whose name suggests that the gene pool of Winterbottom's
future has amalgamated beyond ethnic lines (everyday speech is an alloy of
English, Spanish and nonce words). The two meet and begin an illegal affair,
illegal due to laws regarding population control and genetic homogeneity, and
the Code 46 of the title refers to an unauthorized conception.
It's thin. What one takes from the film are its futurisms, which hail from the
imaginations of authors like Gibson and from, inescapably, "Nineteen
Eighty-four." The theme of Love Versus the State has been around ever since
there was a State, but I was thankful for the way Winterbottom immersed
(drowned?) me in that theme nonetheless. Alwin Kuchler, who shot "Morvern
Callar," again uses the techniques of "hyper-reality" to great effect
(locations included Shanghai, Dubai, Rajasthan and Hong Kong). Together with
music by the Free Association, it casts a spell.
I'm guessing many who see it may not enjoy it for the most part. However, I'm
giving it a positive review primarily for the effort made by the filmmakers to
spin intelligent, convincing science fiction -liberated from reliance on visual
effects and action set pieces. The beauty of the best sci-fi is in its
precognition: it's the fiction of ideas and what *could* be, by one of many
definitions. "Code 46" is that fiction. It's a mess, but an intriguing one.
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X-RAMR-ID: 39043
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1340312
X-RT-TitleID: 1134465
X-RT-AuthorID: 9883
X-RT-RatingText: 3/4