Tuesday, October 28, 1997
‘Gattaca’ not quite a perfect specimen
FILM Inventive storyline, beautiful production lacks suspence,
pacing
By Michael Nazarinia
Daily Bruin Contributor
Taking stylistic cues from George Orwell’s "1984," first-time
writer/director Andrew Niccol’s "Gattaca" depicts a world made
better by the innovation of genetic engineering. The film delivers
a clean and streamlined future, where any couple can guarantee
their child’s fate by selecting the best genes that they have to
offer to their new offspring.
In this highly efficient future, one megacorporation, simply
known as Gattaca, hires the best of the human species based on
their perfect genetic makeup. All interviews for positions in this
post-modern society begin and end with simple blood and urine
tests. If you’ve got the genes, you’re in the scene. If you don’t,
well, then you’re stuck with the label of "in-valid" and end up
washing the Gattaca main building’s skylights and elevators.
The latter is the fate that befalls a young Vincent Freeman,
played by Ethan Hawke. The story starts out with young Vincent
being born out of love when his parents conceive him in the back of
the car on a little necking session. He is a slave to his genes
because he has to wear glasses and will not grow up to be the
optimum height he could have been if his parents had seen the
geneticist to conceive. This makes it hard for Vincent when his
brother is born by the "standard" procedures and gains all of his
parents’ approval, while Vincent gets the constant nursing because
of his presumed frailties.
After Vincent leaves his family, he finds his way into the
Gattaca corporation hoping to follow his dream of flying to Saturn,
but instead becomes a janitor. Hawke’s performance up to this point
is top-notch but the movie feels like it’s carrying a lot of dead
weight because it takes a long time to get going.
Since Vincent can’t move up the corporate ladder the normal way,
he decides to change his identity. In a society where blood samples
are taken at every access point, a driver’s license won’t quite cut
it. So Vincent takes on the identity of Jerome Morrow (fabulously
played by English actor Jude Law) a former Olympic swimming
medalist who has a "perfect" genetic make-up that allows him to do
whatever he wants.
There is absolutely no way that Vincent can become Jerome
without Jerome’s help. Why would an Olympic swimmer want to give
his identity to an in-valid? Simply because fate dealt him
paralysis and confinement to a wheelchair. So Jerome sits at home
collecting pouches of blood and urine for Vincent to use as proof
of his identity.
Up to this point, it’s interesting to see what lengths Vincent
will go to reach his dream, but nothing startling happens to get
the movie really rolling. Vincent has penetrated the company and he
has managed to dupe everybody. Then a murder is committed at
Gattaca and one of Vincent’s eyelashes is found, indicating an
in-valid was present and the inspector (Alan Arkin) sets out to
find the conspirator.
Meanwhile, Vincent has fallen for a lovely co-worker named Irene
(Uma Thurman) who believes that she can only achieve what her genes
say she can. The chemistry between the two is as great as can be
expected of two people who are not supposed to be "falling in love"
in a society where love has definitive boundaries.
The major problem with "Gattaca" is its sluggish pace. The film
seems to get hung up at different points throughout its length.
Niccol focuses too heavily on the details on the details and not
enough on actual progression and evolution of the characters.
Though the sets and locations in "Gattaca" lend a highly visual
feel to the movie, the substance seems a little bit tired by the
time the screenplay really gets going. The production is top-notch
and attention to detail is not lacking, thanks to Niccol’s
preproduction work.
Uma Thurman’s character seems to have been lost when lines were
being written. Even Hawke’s character needs a little livening up.
It takes forever for Vincent to do anything other than stop for the
constant ID screenings at the Gattaca building. Other than that,
and sitting in a big room with a hundred other duplicate terminals
with similarly dressed clones plotting the course to and around
Saturn, Vincent doesn’t really do that much.
What "Gattaca" attempts is something like "The Fugitive." One
man tries to escape capture, in this case to follow his dreams. But
what’s missing is high suspense, other than in a few parts where
the action is quite lively. At one point, all the Gattaca employees
are subjected to a surprise blood test the old-fashioned way, by a
vein rather than by the normal finger-prick method they are
accustomed to. This scene works because the tension developed is
almost tangible and the way Vincent deals with it is even more
amazing.
As far as science fiction goes, "Gattaca" is refreshing in its
approach by melding all the stylistic elements into a polished and
cohesive whole while delivering a story that at times is
emotionally filling.
Jersey Films Production
Jerome Morrow (Ethan Hawke) comes under the scrutiny of Director
Josef (Gore Vidal), a fervent believer in the Gattaca gene
manipulation system.