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Gattaca

(1997)

106 min. Columbia Pictures. Director: Andrew Niccol. Cast: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Gore Vidal, Xander Berkeley, Jayne Brook.

Writer-director Andrew Niccol emerged from a career in commercials with his 1997 film Gattaca, a science-fiction tale set in "the not-too-distant future." The New Zealand-born auteur has never broken through as a star director, but has quietly built a reputation as a smart artist who inspires loyalty from his actors (Ethan Hawke and Al Pacino have each taken roles in two of Niccol's four films). Gattaca arguably remains the most assured of Niccol's films to date; depicting what happens when civilization gets "discrimination down to a science," the film proves to have the storytelling integrity and thoughtful themes of a good novel.

Hawke stars as Vincent Freeman, a naturally conceived young man (a.k.a. "faith birth")in a time when genetic engineering is the norm. Designer DNA can ensure no children with fates sealed by disease, but it also allows parents creepily to select physical and cosmetic traits for their offspring. The trend has also led to illegal but widespread discrimination ("genoism") against humans like Vincent. To achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut, Vincent leaves his old life behind and resorts to becoming a "ladder borrower," meaning that he adopts the identity of someone with genetically engineered DNA.

The process includes daily exfoliation to minimize trace evidence and wearing a false fingertip and hidden catheter to fool scans and urine tests. But when a murder takes place at his job site, the heat is on for Vincent: a stray hair means an "In-Valid" with his face has become prime suspect number one. Meanwhile, he must troubleshoot Jerome Morrow (Jude Law), the alcoholic invalid (catch the pun?) providing Vincent's false identity via blood and urine, and Irene Cassini (Uma Thurman), the co-worker developing suspicion and romantic feelings for Vincent.

Niccol easily builds a strong rooting interest in Vincent, a dreamer trying to beat the odds. The cast is fine through and through, with Law making a strong impression in his first American film. Alan Arkin and Loren Dean play too "Hoovers" (or "J. Edgars") who literally suck up evidence, and Niccol likewise proves clever with his use of spiral staircases to evoke DNA (the film's most suspenseful scene finds Law torturously climbing one with only the use of his upper body). The pleasingly eccentric supporting cast also includes Gore Vidal, Ernest Borgnine, Tony Shalhoub, Blair Underwood, Xander Berkeley, Jayne Brook, Elias Koteas, and (don't blink!) Maya Rudolph.

Niccol opens the film with a Biblical quotation weighed against one by medical ethicist Willard Gaylin. Though the dramatic vehicle is diverting in its own right while exploring Vincent's family issues and desire to be reborn, it's the film's deeper scientific and social implications that give it power and continued relevance. Since the notion of genetic tampering has hardly gone away, Gattaca is ripe for reappraisal.

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