Cypher
(dir. Vincenzo Natali)
Never got round to Cube, but from all accounts it was a pretty decent lo-budget sci-fi... So's this, from the same director. Jeremy Northam, doing fine US accent (and miles away from that stuck-up dude he played in Gosford Park) is a bored salaryman datachimp who decides life would be more interesting if he was a corporate spy. Like the way it's pretty much all monochrome (found myself checking I wasn't watching on some not-tuned in properly channel on my tv) for most of the film, with the odd splash of colour, v stylish. In the future too, but unspecified, like it's only about 5 minutes into the future; ie they're still using CDs to burn their data. Lots of corporate brainwashing, general mind-melding, who-am-i? identity confusion, Lucy Liu as a potentially rogue agent hooking up with Northam at Anywheresville conventions and hotel ice machines. Nothing totally new, but it does what it sets out to do: ie make a satisfying, atmospheric low-key sci-fi.
Links
Tags
27th Oct 2003 - Tumblr
4