*OK, the official title of this post is: Random Film of the Week: Code 46 (Cinematic Katenjammer Not-So-Secret Santa Review Swap in July Version), but that’s too damn long a title even for my long-winded self. That and you can’t put links into titles on WordPress as far as I know…

As a fan of her always intriguing acting work, I’d watch Samantha Morton play a computer-generated paper bag character blowing down a dirty alleyway (I can see it now: “Dreamworks Animation presents… Trash Tale“), but thankfully (more or less), I got to watch Code 46 again and this time, write a little something about it.

Michael Winterbottom’s impressive 2003 speculative sci-fi love story/drama has some great intentions, solid performances and a lovely, realistically grimy futurist visual style all going for it, but it’s not a film for those with short attention spans nor those expecting a movie that’s going to blow their minds with flashy special effects. It’s one of those extremely well made yet surprisingly middle of the road movies which may at first seem odd for the director known for some outstanding (24-Hour Party People) as well as controversial (Butterfly Kiss, 9 Songs) films.

That said, it’s not “bad” by any stretch of the imagination and in fact, has some truly memorable scenes that will resonate with many viewers who want more than the usual weekend box office romance of the week flick. Nevertheless, for all its slow-burning tension, interesting nudity choices and “disturbing” plot twists, there’s a strangely creeping predictability to most of the film that made it feel like a distant memory playing itself back the first time I saw it. Or a memory to come I’d rather not have.

But then again, perhaps this is how it’s supposed to be…

Perhaps it’s Tim Robbins’ portrayal of an virus-aided empathetic adulterous insurance investigator, the nods to films such as 1984, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, THX-1138, Brazil, Blade Runner and a few others that popped into my head as I’ve viewed this one. Perhaps it’s Winterbottom’s straightforward (in a good way) direction that makes this depressing near future flick look and feel so authentic. Or perhaps its me being a bit jaded at these sorts of films where you get some fine actors working away to the best of their ability still unable to outpace the script and dialog that’s a mix of too smart, too strange and too prescient for its own good. The film may be sending out a message (in the form of a slow moving brick to the head), but it demands that you come into it with a willingness to not have everything explained and when something is explained, it needs to be accepted at face value without too much over-thought.

A future with a worldwide dual-class system of haves and have-nots, genetic engineering, implanted viruses with positive and negative effects, the “Code” system of assorted rules governing human contact and more make for a heady “pay attention” mix here and if anything, this is one of those films where you’ll need to pause if you have to take a restroom or any other sort of break. Robbins’ William Geld character is sent to Shanghai to investigate a series of forged “papelles” (a sort of genetic health document everyone needs to travel outside their specific zones) and during his questioning of employees at a company called Sphinx, he meets Morton’s mysteriously charming Maria Gonzalez and yes, falls head over heel for her. Given that his own traveling papers are good for a mere 24 hours when they meet, you know right from the moment they lock eyes their love won’t last…

Maria and William seem strangely linked in some way and, lured in by his empathy as she tells him about her forgeries and deliveries of so many papelles and after not much thought he chooses to not turn her in, instead framing another worker for the crime. You’d think that empathy virus he’s been implanted with would keep reminding he’s a married man with a family, but there would go a nice chunk of the plot, I’d gather. As he only has a short time to complete his now intentionally botched investigation, he leaves Maria and flies back to Seattle. Naturally, there’s big trouble at work waiting for him that forces him back to Shanghai, but by his earlier actions, a few plot wheels have been set into motion that make the film a slow spiral into pretty depressing territory I won’t spoil here.

The stuff that works well here is pretty engrossing. The language stew most everyone speaks (Morton juggles the lingo flawlessly), Maria’s traveling dream, the way you can feel some characters lives unwind or expand in the short times you meet them thanks to her forgeries, the layering of science, surveillance and security that (ha ha) geld William in his attempts to find Maria upon his return to Shanghai, then help him all too well in finding out the real truth about her. All that stuff clicks and resonates. But from the outset, there’s no chance for anything resembling a “happy” ending (not that one is expected, mind you) and as the film closes, you just may not care about one half of the temporary couple thanks to the world the story sets up.

All of that globe-hopping by the filmmakers (the film was shot in London, Dubai, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur and Rajasthan) makes for an odd counterweight to the story’s intriguing means of guaranteeing certain people stay put or don’t rock the boat much. And Geld’s deep navel gazing and virus-enabled emotional state are basically rendered meaningless by the powers that be, making the film a hauntingly downbeat echo of a future that’s in a few ways, a bit too close to where we’re headed on some fronts. The major “failure” here is in all those rules and regulations that frankly speaking, make it impossible to live as a “normal” human being (or a “moral” one, for that matter). Granted, man will always fight the system no matter how much it plants its thumb on his skull, but the odds are SO stacked against everyone in this world that it’s like watching a handful of ants going at a very well crafted robotic anteater (with lasers and flame cannons).

If anything, truly appreciating Code 46 gives a whole new meaning to the term “hopeless romantic” and I’d gather there are a lot of folks who can watch this film every day of the week and feel as if their own lives are a little bit more justified in some tiny way. While I appreciate the creativity behind the film one hundred percent… I’m just not one of those people, so seeing this once every few years is good enough for me. Then again, it does make for a great double feature with THX-1138 (although that film at least has a “happier” finale that might leave more of a spring in your step afterwards… maybe), so perhaps I’ll trot this one out again at some point.