Director: Michael Winterbottom, UK, 92min
Stars: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton
On general release
It’s the near future. Genetic cloning is rife. Big Brother is watching. Yes, it’s back to the Orwellian dystopia — but this being Winterbottom, don’t expect hardware and special effects. Instead, this experimental sci-fi thriller is more Lost in Translation as treated by William Gibson, blending film noir, downbeat love story and Greek mythology.
This is a world of murky cities, arid wastelands, tightly restricted travel, “empathy viruses” (pills you can swallow to read minds) and “papelles” — a form of insurance cover and passport rolled into one. The story focuses on a Brief Encounter-ish affair between a married detective (Robbins), in Shanghai to investigate a “papelle” fraud, and the young worker he is investigating (Morton). Worked into the plot are many imaginative ideas about genetics, fate and free will, along with some wry dialogue — “Everybody’s children are so special. It makes you wonder where all the ordinary grown-ups come from.”
But it’s the pairing of Robbins and Morton that gives the film a heart amid the puzzling conceits: their shared loneliness allows for an undercurrent of sadness and, by extension, a satisfyingly emotional pay-off.
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James Jackson