What movies inspire you? It’s not a topic as cool as, say, “best kill,” but it really ought to be the most basic one, if you think about it. We partake in so much discussion about all the technique on display in our viewing experience, yet I feel like there isn’t enough said about what we actually take away from these things we spend so many hours watching.
If you tossed this question into a party, I’m sure Shawshank Redemption would be the #1 go-to. And that’s understandable--hope’s a good thing, after all--but I think Andy DuFresne’s gotten enough kudos (and airings on basic cable.) Dead Poets Society might be the close second, but I wouldn’t pick it, myself. I honestly find it to be something of pap and platitudes beneath all its exclamations of “Carpe diem!”
Me? I’m most inspired by Gattaca. Remember it?
The movie’s about a not-too-distant future where genetic engineering has become a commercial service. Parents can literally pay to design their children and a caste system’s thusly created where engineered “valids” are given golden tickets to success while “in-valids” (those born naturally, with all those pesky natural human imperfections) are immediately relegated to menial jobs. Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) is one of those in-valids and he’s determined to realize his dream of becoming an astronaut. He's determined even though it’s a job reserved exclusively for valids. He's determined even though natal testing has branded him with a disastrous 99% possibility of heart problems.
To make his goal happen, Vincent cheats the system by assuming the identity of Jerome Morrow (a pre-fame Jude Law,) a valid who’s become a valuable genetic commodity after an overseas car accident’s left him crippled. Of course, when Vincent/Jerome’s suspicious supervisor is murdered just a week before his long-awaited shuttle launch, his ruse and his dreams suddenly fall under much greater suspicion and jeopardy than ever.
Gattaca’s an underdog in of itself. Its release suffered from the familiar “underappreciated sci-fi” tragedy in '97 when it opened to 5th place at the box office, left theaters with only $12 million in gross and then received scant recognition from the Academy outside of a nomination for art direction. Yet, by my reckoning, it still hasn’t received nearly enough of the kind of due championing that re-evaluated classics like Blade Runner and Dark City have.
For that matter, neither has its writer/director, Andrew Niccol, a man who I’ll take all opportunities to insist is the most underappreciated talent in Hollywood, hands down. Whether he’s writing or directing, whether it’s the Truman Show or Lord of War, his entire filmography has presciently hit on topical issues well before they became all-too-familiar hot buttons. And they've all hit on weighty themes and drama in an accessible, entertaining balance that never falls into the esoteric excesses of the art house. I've got my fingers crossed in hope that In Time will be the movie to finally put this guy over in America.
So what inspires me so much about Gattaca? I have flat feet. I was a remedial reader until 2nd grade. I grew up overweight. None of those setbacks are nearly as significant as Vincent’s potential heart problems, but I can still relate to the defiance he exudes every time the people in his world tell him there are things he can never do because that’s his fate. And I'm sure you can, too. This is a movie that's universal in the pure, real sense, not in the way that's concocted by focus-group testing and committee-run marketing studies.
Perhaps because it might've come off as a little too preachy, Niccol cut a coda at the end that parades a dozen famous scientists, politicians, athletes and artists who all had amazing accomplishments despite disorders and disabilities like epilepsy, dyslexia and glaucoma. There’s a lot to be said about the positive value of negative circumstance; how a person who’s lived with challenges all her life is that much more driven to do bigger things than somebody’s who’s won easily from day one. Vincent is an immediately root-worthy underdog because he has to make himself appear to be doing as fine as every other valid, even while he's covering up a near-constant disadvantage. He has to make himself seem aloof about a space mission that's coming to him effortlessly while, in truth, he's struggled desperately to reach every single step toward this end-all goal.
I'd say Gattaca’s also creatively inspiring for how it's a science-fiction thriller that compels your attention without the use for any bombastic set pieces or furious action-oriented effects. I'm far from being a snob who's reflexively repulsed by spectacle--terribly far from it--but I do appreciate this flick for presenting a future that's actually more oppressive in understatement than most of the countless melodramatic dystopias we've seen on screen. What's scary about this future of valids and in-valids is that it wouldn't take too many changes to our own world for it to exist. You can easily imagine just a few creeping advancements putting you on the wrong end of a big societal change and right into Vincent's shoes. If we're talking about science run amok, I think institutional "genoism" is a realer, and scarier, threat than any number of conquering machines or apes--and the triumph of Vincent's spirit over that is all the more inspiring for its believability.
There. I've made my case. This movie gets me going better than any number of motivational posters at the dentist's office. I listen to the superb, minimalistic score Michael Nyman composed for it like loud pump-up music at the gym. I quote Vincent's signature line about "not saving anything for the swim back" more than I should. When the previously-asked question gets thrown out into the aforementioned hypothetical party, Gattaca is my immediate choice for most inspirational movie. What's yours?
Gattaca! So good!
Good article. My science professors must have played this 5 times while I was in school, but I never caught it myself. Now I will have to sit down and watch to see what the hype is about.
In Time is from the same director as Gattaca??? Damn, now I'm even more excited for that movie.
I forgot to give you props, Tom, for a well-written and insightful article. You really made me want to rewatch Gattaca, too.
Love Gattaca, it also has a rather interesting original DVD release (at least in PAL regions) with a dual-sided disc used for great purpose. On one side comes the original 1:2.35 cinema release and on the flip side is the 4:3 fullscreen release (think back to 1999, 12 years ago, for why there was a fullscreen consideration).
What movies inspire me? I'd probably say Pi influenced me a lot when growing up, as a slightly disconnected and obsessive mathematician trying to find my place in the world it was definitely an interesting tale of chasing a goal into madness.
The only reason I roll my eyes at this film is that as a college student this shit gets played, watched, and mentioned so many times I'm sick of it. For as much as it seems plausible, to artificially induce a legislated caste system in our world would only be the case in places were caste systems already exist.
Gattica is another lesson where just because someone made a movie about it and put all the effort into making it look nice as a film, that it holds traction as an argument. This is not an indictment against the film but just the nature of how people have held up this film in my personal life more than it makes logical sense to me. At least that's what it is in the rather pretentious environs I have fallen into from time to time at college.
I really have to see this movie, and Dark City. Actually, I think Dark City is on Netflix, so maybe I'll just get on that right now.
Gattaca's definitely one of my favorite movies for many of the same reasons (not to mention Gore Vidal of all people wandering into scenes).
The way it doesn't shove the aspects of its sci-fi roots in your face, the simplicity in Vincent's goals, and the main cast all in this movie before their big blowouts as stars. Also, short of Princess Bride, one of the best uses of left-handedness in a movie.
I thought the film gave a good outlook on how this could easily become our society. Although I can see why you'd think Gattaca is inspiring I always thought, despite it being a good movie, the message was sort of too "happily ever after." Vincent spends the entire film proving he's more than what they predicted, but in the end the only thing he accomplished was being on par with those born with better genes than him. Had Vincent's brother in the movie accomplished the same thing, nobody would've cared. It can also be assumed that other people like Vincent didn't have as much willpower and came no where near what he did.
In my experience many people think Gattaca is a film example of why gene manipulation is a bad idea, but I disagree, if anything it shows a great deal of potential our race can have.
P.S. the scene with the piano player with twelve fingers was cool
As far as movies that inspire me that go, I would of course say the ones Tom mentioned in the post (Shawshank Redemption, Dead Poet's society), but I would also add Up in the Air, Eternal Sunshine and Rushmore.
Up in the Air is hard to explain, but the second time I watched it, the ending gave me an extreme feeling of peace and calm. From the talking heads, to the silent shots from the airplane, I was absolutely mesmerized. I'm a cynical guy, but the ending made me feel proud to be human. It's bittersweet--it isn't a cheesy perfect ending or some grand triumph over adversity--but it simply shows people moving past their problems, and becoming better people for it.
I absolutely adore this film. The music, the striking imagery (2 in particular, people in business wear cooly boarding a spacecraft and the night swim), Ethan Hawke's drive, Jude Law's performance, all come together to make a film that is far more than the sum of its parts. It is certainly flawed, Uma Thurman gives a wooden performance and the constant blood tests really don't make any sense, but it is a wonderfully evocative film that explores discrimination from a very interesting angle.
When I take a shower and watch my DNA wash down the drain, I always think of the shower scene in Gattaca. It haunts me.
Just watched the In Time trailer. Looks interesting, and has a great cast. I wonder if they will make any effort at all to explain the time based economy, or will they keep it vague and we just have to accept that conceit.
my favorite movie
You know, I really shouldn't doubt my school so much, after all, I watched "Schindler's List" in English this year...
Saw it in my high school science class, definitely one of my favorite movies. One of the only movies I own on blu-ray because the universe is so well thought out and the message is great. The actors are all pretty amazing in their roles and while heart-breaking, are also awe-inspiring.