Word: vincents
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Afflicted with nearsightedness and a weak heart, Vincent nonetheless cherishes the impossible dream of becoming an astronaut at Gattaca Corporation, where he works as a janitor. To this higher end, he buys the assistance of a Valid, Jerome Morrow (Jude Law), who, though crippled by an accident, possesses a spectacular set of genes. Jerome supplies him with blood, urine and other samples of relevant body matter to pass the genetic tests, and Vincent "becomes" Jerome Morrow, admitted to the ranks of the Gattaca elite. Jerome's brilliant record qualifies him to lead a mission to one of Jupiter's moons...
...film also suffers from clunky dialogue and clumsy structuring: nearly the entire first half is occupied by the cheap and easy device of an extended flashback of Vincent's childhood, complete with voice-over by Hawke. A clever O. Henry plot twist near the end is spoiled by the stupidly predictable confrontation that follows; the love story feels grafted onto this loveless world for Hollywood purposes; and the ending, perhaps inevitably, is a let-down, its tone of solemn optimism recalling the blandly humanistic "this is only the first step" resolution of Contact...
...human players in the fore-ground--which may not be a bad thing. The actors, in keeping with their genetically programmed characters, tend to the robotic and expressionless. Hawke's efforts at making a ripple in this monolith are muted and only half-successful: he conveys something of Vincent's conscious vulnerability, but not his dogged resolution. Thurman, though a more emotive actor than her co-star, serves principally as a decorative addition, albeit a stunningly beautiful...
...most interesting figure in this disjointed, unconnected ensemble actually turns out to be that of the "real" Jerome, Vincent's sullen, wheelchair-bound double, who drops hints of injuries beneath the surface that existed even before his actual accident. In fact, the most gripping sequence in the movie involves a painfully drawn out demonstration of Jerome's, not Vincent's, force of will. It is also Jerome's final act, in a ghostly mirroring of Vincent's, that saves the ending from outright banality; the image he leaves--of a silver medal flushed to gold--is arresting, if not terribly...
Nonetheless, Gattaca, despite a certain emotional shallowness, does hit a nerve with its glass-and-chrome model of a society obsessed with the potential for human perfection. Perhaps its best spokesperson is the courteous, kindly-looking genetic "consultant" who, early on, advises Vincent's parents on the birth of their second child. After sketching some of the wonderful and more reasonable tweaking possibilities that lie before them--prevention of genetic defects, diseases, bad eyesight, predisposition to obesity--he finally concludes, in the most quietly persuasive tones in the world, "[The child] is still you...It's just the best...