Netflix: Gattaca (1997)

[entelein]

Gattaca

What a visually lush movie! I enjoyed pretty much every single minute of it. There were a good deal of dynamic events, but the movie also took its time, something that is rare nowadays. It feels comforting to have a little breather space, to allow myself to immerse in a thoughtful way into a universe that is, essentially, a futuristic thought experiment about genetic selection and manipulation.

There was enough of a patina glossing over some of the ideas that it never got too horribly gritty, and so I did not come away feeling depressed or downtrodden. The idea of having humans being able to choose so carefully how their society regards the 'unfit' is generally uncomfortable for any reasonable person, but moreso for those who would almost certainly be relegated to the lowest economic rung without preamble or due process, simply because of a perceived 'deformity.' The movie played this idea out with space travel and its stringent physical requirements, but there was certainly a nasty edge to the ensuing discrimination that easily translated in the thought experiment to all human 'weaknesses.' Chilling.

Uma's awesome, as usual. I am glad I didn't catch the slight twist. The colors and cinematography were all so lovely. Jude Law can carry a performance with limitations, it's clear. He's awesome.

Vincent: I was never more certain of how far away I was from my goal than when I was standing right beside it.

Comments

[firesign3000.livejournal.com]

i thought gattaca was very pretty, but ultimately at the end left me shrugging my shoulders and going "eh".

[ikkarus01.livejournal.com]

I only saw Gattaca once and it was in the theater. I was very disappointed. However, I don't necessarily blame the film for my disappointment. I blame the studio's marketing of the film. I went in with expectations of a much faster paced, action-oriented movie and was subsequently bored to tears by it. Perhaps one day, when I'm bored enough, I'll give it another go on dvd and see if it has gotten any better.

[mstegosaurus.livejournal.com]

I liked that a hell of a lot the first time I saw it, but was recently disappointed to find that it didn't hold up terribly well to repeated viewing. Incidentally: did you notice that their staircase was a double helix?

[entelein.livejournal.com]

I feel dumb for not catching that, but of course it is. Of course. And pretty pretty Jude Law, all over that thing.

[egoism.livejournal.com]

Just a single helix, wasn't it?

[entelein.livejournal.com]

with the steps and the sides, though ...

[egoism.livejournal.com]

You win this round...

[mikey-mud.livejournal.com]

I watched this movie expecting to hate it. Tremendously. Because Hollywood's record with movies involving science is rather poor (not to mention science fiction). Anyway, I ended up loving it and watched it again and again and again and again. I just found it so uplifting.

And I also thought all the leads were awesome - Jude Law, especially.

[thebruce0.livejournal.com]

Definitely agree with ye there... I really liked Gattaca..I haven't watched it for a while, but you may have inspired me to watch it again momentarily, but I only have it on vhs :) heh. I liked the idea of the conflict, the struggle and moral trial he had endure in order to accomplish his dream. Yeah, I think I'ma watch it again

[thewestwind.livejournal.com]

I liked Gattaca a lot. So much in our lives is determined by that which is statistically probable, predictable when interpreted as a distribution. But we are each a single datum, and there is never any certainty for a sample of size one. For me, Gattaca served as a rather elegant reminder of that fact.

[entelein.livejournal.com]

Yes. This was my reaction.