re:mote voices

Title: Code 46
Cast: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton, Om Puri, Nina Fog, David Fahm, Jeanne Balibar
Director: Michael Winterbottom

Code 46 is the latest film by director Michael Winterbottom, something of a science fiction film. An understated affair that is perhaps reminiscent of the approach to making Gattaca, a film with which it shares a theme - both featuring genetics and the scanning of people. With that, Code 46 is a more sprawling affair, based primarily in Shanghai, and featuring a hybridised world dialect, based on English, but filled with other languages.

Tim Robbins is an agent assigned to a job in Shanghai, to detect the source of forged "cover". There for 24 hours, one kind of gets the same kind of vibe off him that you got from Bill Murray in Lost In Translation - finding himself for a short period in a sprawling Eastern city to do work. The film's title refers to a piece of legislation called "code 46", which is designed to prevent people who are to genetically similar from breeding. But that is just part of a whole load of genetic law, the idea of cover being central to that - people only being allowed to enter each city/country if they have proper cover, cover being based on their genetics. One of the best demonstrations of the approach to this is the check point Robbins has to go through on arriving in Shanghai - there are people without cover forbidden from entering the city, and once through them, the car passes through a tunnel and is sprayed down to avoid contamination.

Cover is provided by a company called Sphinx, the sphinx knowing who is eligible for cover and who isn't. With the result that certificates are issued to those with cover. Of course, with anything, there is a black market, and Robbins is in Shanghai because the latest black market certificates were printed in a factory there. This is where Robbins demonstrates his special abilities, what the film refers to as "empathy", the ability to read a situation based on what people are saying. For me, watching this happen, without any explanations, it struck me as being a demonstration of how William Gibson's character Cayce might work in his novel Pattern Recognition - the fact that Robbins character is called William may be telling, or coincidence?

The real drive of the film comes when Robbins character encounters Samantha Morton, the woman responsible for smuggling out the certificates. A curious chemistry is developed between the two, so that instead of turning her in, he gives management someone else's name. The two then go on a tour of the city together, exploring the chemistry further - something again, which perhaps, has echoes of Lost In Translation. However at the end of the night Robbins has to go back to his family, even if he carries the haunting memories of this encounter within. This is not the end though, with Robbins deception forcing him back to Shanghai, and the play of code 46 complicating matters.

Code 46 is narrated by Samantha Morton, as she tries to reconstruct events in her mind to explain how they turn out in the end. Morton has some of the wilful and twisted drive that she brought to her performance of Morvern Callar, but comes across as being more focussed and aware here. Additionally as the voice of the narrator, she plays the part with a certain indefinable accent, which is somehow dream like and seductive. Something which subtly enhances the whole, especially with the mix of languages that are present in the film's dialogue.

Overall Code 46 is a wonderful and beautiful film, which I enjoyed thoroughly, and look forward to seeing again soon!


-note- i've already been to see Code 46 a second time, it seems that it is going to disappear from the cinema pretty quickly - so go see it while you can. holds up to a second viewing - some great lines, great visuals, and striking and suitable droning soundtrack by the free association