Code 46 (or, Just add charisma)

Another day, another Tim Robbins film.

Why do I do it to myself?

Well, it was directed by Michael Winterbottom, one of Britain's most eclectic directors - and one of my personal favourites. Oh, and Samantha Morton has been a fave since she played one of the victims in Cracker.

So, yes, I've been keen to see Code 46, Winterbottom's take on sci-fi, for a while now. I was especially interested in how he would manage to portray the future with his trademark low budget, and he did surprisingly well. Winterbottom's effective use of language and stylistic tweaks to familiar surroundings create the near future elegantly and effortlessly - far more elegantly than the cinematic heavyweights like Lucas and Spielberg have managed in recent years with their tedious exposition and overladen special effects.

It is a beautifully simple, Spanish, French, Arabic and Chinese words are blended into the English dialogue along with newly coined terms, whose meanings gradually become understandable as the film progresses. The linguist in me loves how effective the use of language is in building the future of Code 46. The movie-goer in me loves Winterbottom's chuck-em-in-the-deep-end ethos. But - and it is a big but (and I cannot lie) - there is a serious problem with the leads.

No chemistry.

At all.

Robbins and Morton seemed to be going through the motions. It is not that the story is not compelling. The politics of love in the shallow gene pool of the future was more than interesting enough to hold my attention. Interesting but cold - which is rather unfortunate in a film about the future of love.

I've come to realise that I am becoming hypersensitive to the lack of emotional motivation in films at the moment. I forgive Winterbottom because I get the feeling that he had other priorities in bringing the film to the screen. While Code 46 is not particularly successful as a whole, it is a success on many levels. I loved the script, the ideas, the pacing, the editing. All it needed was a little soul to bind it all together.

Worth checking out. It is sci-fi on a budget and done well. Watch it in the spirit of the experiment that it is and you'll enjoy it on one level (and mourn the film that it could have been on another).