Code 46 (2003)

Code 46: Directed by Michael Winterbottom. With Tim Robbins, Togo Igawa, Nabil Elouahabi, Samantha Morton. A futuristic Brief Encounter (1945), this is a love story in which the romance is doomed by genetic incompatibility.

“This one is billed as a love story set in the u0026quot;near futureu0026quot;. I got the idea it was more of a one night stand set in the near future, considering the main character, William (Tim Robbins), was married with a son waiting back home. William is a government investigator and the girl that he fell in love with, Maria (Samantha Morton), was the person in particular that he came out to investigate.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis movie starts in a similar fashion as I, Robot, with just a definition and the law of what exactly a Code 46 is. Itu0026#39;s kind of the same way police codes work today whereas a 187 is a homicide, etc. A Code 46 is, in a nutshell, if two people share the same u0026quot;genetic identityu0026quot; (read – DNA), anywhere from 25% to 100% the same, they are not permitted to conceive a child. Any pregnancy resulting from a Code 46 must be u0026quot;terminatedu0026quot;. If the parents were ignorant of their genetic identities, then medical intervention is authorized to prevent a further occurrence of a Code 46 (this was similar to the whole plot of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind where they medically make you forget who this person is and any involvement you had with him) and last, but not least, if any two people of the same genetic identity knowingly commit a Code 46, then that is a criminal offense.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThat being said, you can almost guess the entire basic story but there are other little things in the movie that almost certainly have to be watched again to catch everything. I turned on the movie before I was ready to commit my full attention to it and found myself playing catch-up the rest of the time, so make sure the film has your full attention.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe world here seems a little bit like in Demolition Man, but more realistic and less intense. You need what is called a u0026quot;papelleu0026quot; in order for you to enter a real city through a checkpoint and if you do not have one, you are doomed to stay outside of any major cities. In reality, this was more similar to Tijuana. They were mobbed by people selling fruits or whatever to anyone that stopped near them, etc., which was a more likely realistic future than that of Demolition Man.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlso, the language and people were more of a melting pot around the world. Just about everyone primarily spoke English, but no one said u0026quot;Thank youu0026quot;, it was u0026quot;Graciasu0026quot; and other little things of that nature.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTim Robbins style in this movie reminds me of Jeff Daniels for some reason. I think it is his voice acting, thereu0026#39;s not much else to act with here and I really think he came out looking kind of stale. Samantha Morton looked like Sinéad Ou0026#39;Connor and not very attractive, but I believe her performance was a little more believable, although not great.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWith all that in mind, you really have to be in the right mood to watch this. Itu0026#39;s definitely a movie that you have to think about to understand what is happening and you canu0026#39;t just sit with a tub of popcorn and be entertained. Take that in consideration and decide for yourself if this is your type of movie. I honestly did not care for it, but can appreciate the little things that went on in the movie and I realize that just because it isnu0026#39;t for me, it is still pretty good. 7/10”