Some time in the near future, the population of Earth has been divided into two classes – those who were born the natural way and those who were genetically enhanced; one of the “in-Valids” (Ethan Hawke) assumes the identity of a “Valid” to live as a perfect human being. A low-key science fiction movie that may not rely on original ideas but nevertheless address themes hat will always resonate. The story requires attention from viewers and those who stick with it will be rewarded in the end. Emotional, suspenseful and realistic to a certain degree, the movie has good performances and an inspiring message of achieving whatever is regarded as impossible.
1997-U.S. 112 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher. Written and directed by Andrew Niccol. Cast: Ethan Hawke (Vincent Freeman), Uma Thurman (Irene Cassini), Jude Law (Jerome Morrow), Gore Vidal, Loren Dean, Alan Arkin… Ernest Borgnine, Tony Shalhoub.
Trivia: The name “Gattaca” was constructed from the letters used to label the bases of DNA. Maya Rudolph plays a nurse in her first feature film.
Last word: “‘Gattaca’ is among the best first films in the history of cinema. I firmly believe this. Andrew Niccol is so smart; this movie announced the arrival of a really, really original mind. I know for a fact that the head of studio releasing at the time just didn’t think it was that good. He didn’t want to invest a lot money in it, and so it was kind of dumped into theaters without much promotion. I know that Andrew worked really hard with whatever little campaign he had. But at the end of the day, you need exposure to educate viewers as to what the movie’s about.” (Hawke, TIME)
