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- There Is No Gene For The Human Spirit.
Summary Capsule
- In a genetically-enhanced future, a natural-born weakling fights to rise above his station using the Atlas Bodybuilding Program.
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DnaError's Rating: Huxley would be proud.
DnaError's Review: This is the scifi the way it was meant to be used. No big-budget CGI explosions, no creepy bug-like aliens with big ray guns and leading men with big chins and leading woman with even bigger breasts. Instead, Gattaca, written and directed by the talented Andrew Niccol, presents us with a story
about humanity which uses SF concepts and ideas to tell it.
The performances shine; Ethan Hawke's character of Vincent Freeman who struggles to find a loop hole in Gattaca's tight genetic elite is a contrast to Uma Thurman's cold, antiseptic Irene Cassini who plays by the rules and accepts her fate. A mention too must be made to Jude Law, as Jerome Morrow, a man who gets a kick out of bringing down the society that spurned him.
Even with the refreshingly intelligent SF script and stellar performances, the movie's cinematography is yet example of creativity in the world of SF movies. The world of Gattaca is cold, blue, and corporate, much like a modern office building. Not directly menacing, but stifling and full of ennui. The world outside is warm, yellow, and comforting, but also starkly modern and artifical, with blocky square buildings and little if any vegetation. Great visual moments, such as a sunrise over a field of solar-collectors, mark the film.
This is the way SF was should be. Intelligent and emotional, well-structured and complex story that uses modern science to ask the old question, how strong is the desire for freedom? This movie is a must see for any serious scifi fan or anyone who loves great movies.
Lissa's Rating: Guanine, Adenine, Thymine, and Cytosine. See? I remembered from Cellular and Molecular Biology! All right, all right, I looked it up. Sheesh. Yeah. Like YOU remembered either.
Lissa's Review: If you are into scifi at all and you have yet to see this movie, drop everything and go out and rent it right now. Then come back and read this at your leisure.
Hey — what are you waiting for? Go!
How I missed Gattaca when it came out is beyond me. It very likely had to do with a lack of transportation to get to theaters to see new releases. Maybe I wasn’t too into it because Uma Thurman is in it, and I really don’t like her as an actress. But I should have seen this one much earlier, although admittedly it’s always nice to find a great rental on the shelves.
Gattaca, which is much less of an action movie than I thought (not a bad thing), takes place in the future after mankind has discovered how to genetically manipulate offspring. A few oddballs still have babies the old-fashioned way, but most parents pay to have their children genetically enhanced. On the surface, this seems like a great idea because risks of so many diseases are reduced. But with new technology comes unforeseen consequences, like serious discrimination against those that are not genetically modified.
It’s an absolutely fascinating premise, partly because it’s not so outlandish as one might think. Parents will often do anything to give their child an advantage, and some of the measures people take these days don’t seem too far away. I mean, there are music classes for 8-week old babies these days, baby yoga, baby this-and-that…. They’re talking about how you can start to choose the sex of a baby. Editing out imperfections is probably only not available simply because we don’t have the science, not because there’s not the desire. And who am I kidding? If there was a way I could ensure that my child would not have heart problems, Down’s syndrome, mental retardation, high risk of cancer, or even the hearing loss I’ve got, I’d certainly consider it. What parent would take the risk their child might suffer if there’s a way to prevent it?
Of course, all technology comes with a social price, and Gattaca explores that premise through Vincent, played extraordinarily well by a very hot Ethan Hawke. Seriously. I haven’t been a fan of his slacker look, but this is the grown-up Todd Anderson and oooh, he is nice to look at! He’s matured considerably since his Dead Poets’ days, and if I ever had any doubt about his acting ability, I retract anything I might have said. Anyway, the said social price I was discussing before the drool set in is that anyone who is not genetically engineered is considered invalid, and is basically exempt from society. Vincent is an invalid, technically condemned to a life of menial labor, and flat out refusing to accept it.
It’s interesting to watch the lengths that Vincent goes to in order to achieve his dreams. He takes on the identity of Jerome Miller, a competitive swimmer engineered to be the best at everything, and brought down by an accident genetics could never have prevented. Jerome is played far too well by Jude Law, whom I don’t consider all that attractive, but does a great job with dark, bitter roles like this. And Vincent succeeds, beyond what anyone would have deemed possible. He succeeds in his career, his love life (although I don’t understand his attraction to Uma Thurmon, who WAS admittedly perfect for her role), and despite the fact it’s supposed to be impossible, he’s fooling the world. For now.
Of course. It’s always for now. But the resulting questions, chase, and plot twists are well crafted and for the most part avoid cliché. I don’t know that anything that happens can be truly called unexpected, but it’s well crafted, well written, and extremely well acted, so who cares? And Ethan Hawke wears a three piece suit for most of the movie. If the above arguments didn’t convince you this one’s worth seeing, that one should.
I really wish, in a critic sort of way, I could find something bad to say about Gattaca. It makes a review more interesting. But I really can’t. I wouldn’t go so far to say Gattaca is the best movie ever made and everyone should see it this second, but it’s extremely well done on every level and yes, you should go see it if you haven’t already and if you like science fiction. Or if you really want to drool over some exceedingly good-looking people pondering the consequences of genetic manipulation. Either way, it’s a good thing!
 "Yeah, I was the desk-standing-upon guy. You want an autograph?"
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- The name "Gattaca" is composed entirely of the letters used to label the nucleotide bases of DNA. The four nucleotode bases of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) are adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine.
- Public address announcements in the Gattaca Corporation headquarters building are in Esperanto, an artifical language invented in the 19th century.
- The winding stairs in Jerome's appartment have a helical structure, like DNA.
- Uma Thurman's character is named Irene Cassini. Cassini is the surname of the 17th century French-Italian astronomer, Jean Dominique Cassini, who discovered the prominent gap in Saturn's main rings, as well as the icy moons, Iapetus, Dione, Rhea, and Tethys. The space mission in Gattaca is destined for Saturn.
- Jude Law's character asks to be called by his middle name, Eugene. "Eugene" comes from the Greek for "well born," which Jerome is. "Eugenics" (the science of improving the hereditary qualities of a race or breed) is the central theme of the film.
- The FBI agents are called "Hoovers," a reference to legendary top-G-man J. Edgar Hoover, but also a clever reference to a vacuum cleaner brand. There are numerous shots of vacuums being used to gather DNA evidence
- All instances of the letters A, C, G, and T are emphasized in almost all names of people and companies credited in the film. These letters appear in a different typeface from the rest of the name.
Is It Worth Staying Through End Credits?
After the credits complete, there is slow-motion footage, tinted blue, of the fingernails from the first scene
hitting the pavement.
Intermission! [some sources: IMDb]
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The Gattaca building (interiors and exteriors) is, in reality, the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, CA. It was designed by American star architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957. The largest Wright design ever constructed, it was largely built after his death in 1959. The central dome (prominent in the roof-cleaning scene) contains the county library.
The film's working title was "The Eighth Day", a reference to the Biblical creation story, which states that the earth was created in six days and on the seventh day, God rested. The original title implies the tampering of man with what God has already made, and "The Eighth Day" is still the name of the center in the movie where the children are engineered, as noted on the DVD deleted scenes.
Groovy Quotes
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Vincent: There's no gene for fate.
Jerome: If at first you dont succeed... try, try again.
Vincent: We shed 500 million cells a day.
Vincent: He had everything except desire.
Vincent: You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton: I never saved anything for the swim back.
Vincent: I was never more certain of how far away I was from my goal than when I was standing right beside it.
Jerome: We have to get drunk immediately.
Vincent: They used to say that a child conceived in love has a greater chance of happiness. They don't say that anymore.
Vincent: We now have discrimination down to a science.
Jerome: I got the better end of the deal. I only lent you my body — you lent me your dream.
Vincent: There's more vodka in this piss than there is piss.
Vincent: For someone who was never meant for this world, I must admit I am having a hard time leaving it. Although they say every atom in our bodies was once part of a star. Maybe I'm not leaving... maybe I'm going home.
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This review page was last updated on 9.6.04
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