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Deleted member 13876
Unconfirmed Member
Best movie. Glad I never saw it in a classroom setting, would have ruined my appreciation of it probably.
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LTTP: Gattaca
- Thread starter Dawg
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ThoseDeafMutes
Member
Sheeeit I forgot about that one.
I own it on DVD too, so I really should have remembered.
Mister Wilhelm
Member
I think of that as an entirely different picture myself. I mean, it is a sci-fi masterpiece that bombed but the point it is trying to get across and the mood of the movie is not the same to me.
cheststrongwell
my cake, fuck off
You have Leon in your list, so it's all good.
tensuke
Member
One of my absolute favorite tracks in a movie OST. So beautiful.
If you liked Gattaca (which, let's be honest, who didn't) I really recommend The Thirteenth Floor and Dark City. The Fifth Element and Twelve Monkeys are also really great.
thesoapster
Member
I cannot fault it. It's in my top 10 for sure.
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
One of my favorite movies. In our lifetimes it will come across as prophetic.
I mentioned eXistenZ on the first page of this thread. It's an awesome movie but I don't think it was widely marketed in the U.S. It's a must-see if you like sci-fi.
You might as well have, with it being talked about for multiple consecutive pages.
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
eXitenZe is a great movie but its no Videodrome. i remember seeing it in the theater at a local Las Vegas casino. A bunch of seniors saw the movie with me and my friend. As we were leaving the conversations they were having were priceless. "What.. in the hell.. did we just watch?" "I never seen something so stupid before in my life.. lets get a hotdog."
edit: seniors as in old people, not he high school kind
chaostrophy
Member
Am I alone here or did anyone else sympathize more with the views and practices of the "dystopian" society in the film than with the protagonist? I guess the film deserves some credit for addressing difficult questions that humanity will most likely have to face eventually. But the "hero" was totally unconvincing to me, he just seemed like a fraud.
Lamel
Banned
I disagree. I think it was very easy to empathize with the hero, because lets face it we all face extremely difficult odds in this world at times and they seem insurmountable; seeing someone overcome them in such a spectacular fashion is revitalizing.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
Every time I hear these words I get chills:
There's just something about the way the characters speak to one another and the themes and the music and the atmosphere to the way the movie is shot in general. It's really mellow in a way. Precision strike to the feels. It affects the viewer without ever giving the hint that it's even trying to. You just want so bad for the characters to succeed on all fronts against any odds.
There's just something about the way the characters speak to one another and the themes and the music and the atmosphere to the way the movie is shot in general. It's really mellow in a way. Precision strike to the feels. It affects the viewer without ever giving the hint that it's even trying to. You just want so bad for the characters to succeed on all fronts against any odds.
I have to disagree. Everyone in the cast is quite sympathetic and all because they are victims of this new and supposed perfect society. Though Vincent is the only one who actually dares to try and achieve the impossible, while everyone else is defined by the rules of society.
Eugene is literally and figuratively crippled by his inability to achieve perfection, despite being created as a perfect human specimen. Irene is convinced she can never and will never fulfill her dreams because she is genetically inferior. And Anton as well is incapable of believing a base born person can compete and even out match someone who was genetically crafted.
They all let the assumptions of society dictate their views and never allow themselves to think otherwise, whereas Vincent challenges them, fraudulently in disguise by necessity, but still his very attempt is an act of defiance since going by all the other characters he shouldn't even think it's possible in the first place, let alone actually attempt it.
Unfortunate futures of mankind are feel-worthy.
I like Gattaca, but Gattica is the ultimate film.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
it's so good it's even better than itself.
WhereAreMahDragonz
Banned
"You are the authority on what is not possible, aren't you Irene? They've got you looking for any flaw, that after a while that's all you see. For what it's worth, I'm here to tell you that it is possible. It is possible."
This whole scene ;_;
This whole scene ;_;
-Pyromaniac-
Member
"No, no. I got the better end of the deal. I only lent you my body. You lent me your dream."
That combined with the ending scene
That combined with the ending scene
WhereAreMahDragonz
Banned
"Jerome Morrow was never meant to be one step down on the podium."
Lamel
Banned
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
Could be worse. They could have found it in your eye.
The scene at the end with the doctor is pretty great too. I love that actor actually.
The scene at the end with the doctor is pretty great too. I love that actor actually.
ChubbyHuggs
Member
I love this movie. I also love the alternative ending, which was cut from the movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm5KAQnFgHI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm5KAQnFgHI
Trent Strong
Banned
Maybe the best soundtrack in any movie.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
Not much of a fan, because it's pretty spurious reasoning. If those people were never born, people of equal or greater genius may have been born in their place. It seems to be similar to the reasoning people use when they say things like "what if Jesus was aborted" or "what if Einstein was aborted?" In the end, all it is really saying is that if things were different in the past, certain people we admire may never have come to be. It's misleading because we are familiar with what did happen, while we are not familiar with what could have happened. We can easily imagine the loss, but it's hard to imagine the gain.
The main problem with the world of Gattaca is not the proliferation of embryonic screening and genetic engineering, it's the attitude that these people hold towards the transitional generations who did not get the same benefits.
Saw this film in about 2004 after hearing how good it was. I found it mildly disappointing. It was a little too slow, a little too dull, and I just found it slightly unbelievable.
As for best Sci Fi of 1997? I'd say Fifth Element or Starship Troopers easily beat it out. It's not awful....just....okay.
As for best Sci Fi of 1997? I'd say Fifth Element or Starship Troopers easily beat it out. It's not awful....just....okay.
I see it as: "those people had this disadvantage and that disease, but they still managed to be the top of the crop and did incredible things.". I see it as an empowering message.
I should have been more specific: "Of course, the other birth that may never have taken place is your own."
Which in my case is actually true.
transitional generations? The world in Gattaca discriminates against all "natural" born humans. Which yes, would possibly result in no "natural" born humans anymore at some point. If you meant that by "transitional", then yes I agree.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
True for me too, but the hypothetical perfect baby that would have existed in our stead was no less deserving of life than you or I was. What if your parents had decided to have a baby a month earlier than they did? What if your parents decided that they weren't ready to have you quite yet, and delayed by six months or a year? You wouldn't exist in either case. I wouldn't exist in either case. I wonder how you feel about the termination of fetuses because of large developmental abnormalities that already happen, or even the termination of any baby at all.
That is what I mean by transitional. The people who were alive during the times when not all children were engineered / screened. If you were born before the technology existed, your life was mostly discrimination free. But the technology became more popular over time, so if you were a natural born human born when 80% of your contemporaries were engineered/selected, you did face significant discrimination. These generations are the ones of transition between a predominantly natural birth to a predominantly mediated birth.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
There actually is a lot of futuristic tech in the movie. It's just that in the GATTACA universe, the fashionable aesthetic is retro.
That's different from "we decide that you are not worth it, because we assume that you have a 20% chance of getting disease X." If you look at it from that point, every birth is completely random. What if your parents would have never met. What if your father would have died 2 years before your birth? All of that is random.
I consider decisions of that type to be problematic. Humans quite often think that they know how something works and then find out later, that they were wrong all along. What if a gene was responsible for the chance of getting a certain disease, but also responsible for the chance of being much more intelligent and humans only found out about the disease part?
Or maybe a certain gene protects someone from a certain disease and an epidemic of that disease happens in 50 years from now on? We wouldn't know. We actually couldn't know. We would do genetic selection for a certain time and maybe then die out, because we removed certain genes from the gene pool.
There are people, who are immune against AIDS for example:
http://www.hivplusmag.com/case-studies/research-breakthroughs/2012/09/07/anyone-immune-hiv
On the other hand maybe those genetically modified super humans would be able to find a cure and we wouldn't.
That's a really difficult question to answer.
People in wheelchairs for example may get severe depressions. But they may also live a happy life. I don't think that anyone should decide, if a human life is worth it (a woman just not wanting to get pregnant is a different story). What if one of those developmental abnormalities would result in someone being a genius of some sort? What if it's evolution at work? It's really difficult to decide.
Sure. I always saw Gattaca also as discrimination against poor people as well. Because those who just couldn't afford the technology would be severely disadvantaged. Which would then result in those poor people dying out and/or used for crappy slave jobs.
I have the Blu Ray and the video quality is great. Audio quality is also good, it could be better, but it does its job.
All in all it's a good release, 8 well spent.
So many feels in this thread.
Didn't even know the film bombed. Reminds me about that other sci-fi movie... probably my favourite sci-fi... Sunshine. Why do good sci-fi movies bomb?
And why are all these sci-fi movies filled with feels? If I compare Sunshine to Gattaca, both have a terrific soundtrack (Sunshine is perhaps a tad better) that gives me the feels because it's used on the perfect moment. And both movies have a lot of emotional scenes.
I'm not sure if Sunshine should still be my favourite sci-fi movie after watching Gattaca. Sunshine changes a lot near the end with a certain reveal (reveal itself was handled very good) while Gattaca was prett much flawless the entire runtime.
Didn't even know the film bombed. Reminds me about that other sci-fi movie... probably my favourite sci-fi... Sunshine. Why do good sci-fi movies bomb?
And why are all these sci-fi movies filled with feels? If I compare Sunshine to Gattaca, both have a terrific soundtrack (Sunshine is perhaps a tad better) that gives me the feels because it's used on the perfect moment. And both movies have a lot of emotional scenes.
I'm not sure if Sunshine should still be my favourite sci-fi movie after watching Gattaca. Sunshine changes a lot near the end with a certain reveal (reveal itself was handled very good) while Gattaca was prett much flawless the entire runtime.
Didn't even know the film bombed. Reminds me about that other sci-fi movie... probably my favourite sci-fi... Sunshine. Why do good sci-fi movies bomb?
I LOVE Sunshine! It was one of the first Blu Rays I bought and it's really wonderful. Great soundtrack as well; a pity they didn't make a CD (I had to buy from Amazon the only track that is actually available).
Thinking about it, most of the sci-fi movies I love are unknown to most of the people I know: Serenity, Sunshine, Gattaca, Contact, Dark City, Knowing, Dredd 2012... I'm working on it, though.
DVD? booooo.
But I'll chime in with the rest of the thread, excellent film, excellent soundtrack.
sixteen-bit
Member
Ballin' ass flick. Loved it.
electroshockwave
Member
17 years. It's older than Bladerunner was when Gattaca came out.
Maybe because not every movie ages that good? I'm always hesitant when I watch an old movie because not everything ages like fine wine.
I thought the guy playing the doctor was the same dude portraying Roose Bolton in Game of Thrones. :/
Acquiescence
Member
Remember seeing it on television for the first time many many years ago and being absolutely floored, and by the end thinking to myself "why did no one tell me this was so amazing, why did I have to find out all by myself?!"
The alternative ending blew me away when I first saw it and I cannot find any flaw in its logic; if you are only selecting close to perfect embryos, rejecting any that have significant mental or physical abnormalities, someone with "once in a generation" intellect , but without the perfect physique, such as Einstein and Hawkings, would be rejected, to humanities great detriment, as the odds of having both a "genius" level mind and nion perfect body are astronomical.
I think the doctor knew all along.
Great movie, it does make me feel old all the people who saw it in biology class. This only means the movie is old enough to have inspired a young person to later show it to his or her class after becoming a teacher.
Daniel B·;98847009 said:
Its logic may be sound but it's inclusion is totally unnecessary and far too preachy and blunt. I'm glad it was cut. The movie already does a great job of showing the flaws of this society and its misguided mindset. Each character is a clear example of the negative effects such a society would have on people and does a great job of showing it without forcing it on the viewer.
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