Midweek Mention... Gattaca

Gattaca

Dan: We have literally moved into the future. Not only with this podcast right now but for the future plans of our next edition

Reegs: Mmm.

Dan: You're gonna have to listen in to see what that is but Today we're talking about a film that I chose.

I think we've all seen

Sidey: Yeah.

Dan: Gattaca

Sidey: Yes, we were talking about the movie Gattaca. I'm fairly certain you would have picked this because you're in love with Ethan

Dan: Yeah, I

think there's a little bit of a man crush there. Maybe one of the earliest films I've seen him in actually.

Sidey: Yeah, I was watching it and I was going to miss their husband and wife, but this was the film where they met and fell in love.

Reegs: 1997.

Sidey: Yeah.

Dan: As, as they end up doing in, in this

Sidey: Life imitating art.

Dan: Yeah, we're, we're what they call. hard sci fi, is that right?

Reegs: Well, it's exactly the type of stuff that I like in sci fi where you introduce like a really, a big concept that's like possible potentially in the future and then show the sort of moral and social implications of it. And this one is about the ethical use of gene manipulation, genetic engineering, eugenics, that sort of thing.

So great high concept stuff.

Dan: it's got some, some really yeah, lots of hidden meanings and, and, and things to read into to this. I think it's one of those repeated viewing rewards,

Sidey: Isn't it essentially Moonraker?

Dan: No.

Reegs: Really . Okay. I'm willing to be convinced,

Sidey: But they just jet off at the end to, like, I assume to start off another civilization or something.

They never really make the mission clear, other than that there's a mission to jet off somewhere.

Dan: Yeah, there's

Sidey: know if we've even said the title, have we, that it's Gattaca?

Reegs: Have we said

that?

Sidey: I don't know

Dan: may have slipped that in the beginning, but if you don't know it before now, you know it now.

Reegs: And this was Andrew Nicol, Nicol,

Sidey: Stewart's brother. Stewart's

Reegs: brother. Yeah.

He did the Truman show and some other really

great

Dan: he did Lord, Lord,

Reegs: And

Dan: think the year after

Sidey: thought it was Peter Wir directed that.

Dan: But it was, he wrote it the year after this and did Lord of War with Nick Cage as well.

Reegs: and the terminal I think he wrote and he's got a few others on his

Sidey: Oh, decent, decent caliber. And this starts off with your boyfriend, Ethan Hawke. And he's. Well

it's about the

Reegs: Couple of quotations it starts with that set out and it is important because there's the quotations at the beginning and the tagline of the Movie sets out what it's going to talk about the tagline on the poster was there is no gene for the human spirit I think which really sets out exactly what this movie is going to be about and the opening quote We've got Ecclesiastes.

He says, consider God's handiwork who can straighten what he hath made crooked. And then we've got Willard Galen, and he says, I not only think we will tamper with mother nature, I think mother wants us to so two opposing viewpoints,

Dan: It was quite, quite an interesting use of quotations to kick us off.

Because as you say, it does describe what's going on. We're in a future where

Sidey: it's a not

very distant

Dan: distant future. No, no, it's it feels close enough. And I think this movie's 25

maybe.

yeah, plus, yeah, So, sort of

27 years old. It doesn't feel that dated. It still

Sidey: I think this is aged really well. Well,

Reegs: it's got a sort of timeless style, well, actually a style that's linked to the 40s and stuff

Sidey: It's the brutalist architecture that they show their real buildings and the the vehicles that they drive. are old school vehicles that have been retrofitted to be electric.

So that's also very true to modern day as it

Dan: turns out.

But

Sidey: But when we do get introduced to the characters, Ethan Hawke, he's been birthed as a kind of normie. His parents didn't want to interfere

Dan: A non valid.

Sidey: Yes. He's got all kinds of potential issues ahead of him.

Dan: Yeah,

Reegs: It's such an interesting concept and particularly to have come up with it so far in that

Dan: ramped it up and it's such a thought provoking and interesting concept and particularly to have come up with it so far in the past that he really seems to have hit the nail on the head with a lot of what he's going and talking about.

Reegs: Yeah. Well, 'cause they'd just done, or had they just completed the human genome project, it was around about this kind of time. So, yeah.

Dan: I wasn't involved, to be honest, I don't remember,

Reegs: So yeah, they, they.

And, and while we're understanding a bit about this world that's set up this way, we're seeing the elaborate routine that shapes Ethan Hawke's world.

We see him like shaving exfoliating in a blue light burning, making fake fingerprints not f fingerprints. They're

like, they

Sidey: like caps that go over his own fingerprints with blood injected into them because we see day to day life involves scanning your way through things, constantly giving samples of things, and so we know, we're explicitly shown at the get go that he's

Reegs: Yes because the system, you know, basically favors those who are predisposed genetically to be, you know, of high potential. And that, you know, there are certain genes that are selected out essentially from the population, like a propensity for violence or ADHD, or in Ethan Hawke's case, he's got a heart defect that never really quite explained and a reduced expected life.

Sidey: They can tell from scanning your blood at birth, they do, they show, they take a, like a, like a insulin kind of sample, scan it, and the nurse is reading through again, 40 percent chance of blah, and then she looks at the doctor and says 99 percent chance of heart failure or a heart defect.

And so he's not supposed to live past 40, I think, is what we're, we're led to believe.

Dan: And, but they, they take out they offer to take out things like baldness and any other unwanted you know,

Sidey: well, we get to see that because they're going to have another baby,

Dan: That's right,

Sidey: And this time they do go to see the

Dan: and this has shown with flashbacks

Sidey: Yeah. and the guys say, well, we really don't want to do too much. We don't interfere too much, but we just have like healthy and get rid of blah. And and the doctors like, well, why wouldn't you like? Also do this, that and the other. Remember, this is still his genes. Yeah. Just the best that it can be.

Dan: best of you. Still your genes, but it's the, it is the best of you both.

And, and so, a brother is born.

Sidey: Yeah. So one normie, one valid. One

Dan: one

invalid. He's always going to be playing second fiddle, isn't he? He's not going to

Sidey: Well, he's always going to be playing second fiddle, isn't he?

He's not going to be the little Lebowski urban achiever like

Reegs: Well he's very quickly overtaken He's shown to be, like, his brother is physically

Sidey: Yeah,

Dan: He's

Reegs: He's taller

He's stronger, you know That stuff is all coming out very quickly And he's getting more opportunities In life through his genetics than than Ethan

Sidey: Bourke. Hmm.

Dan: swim against each other. It's a game of chicken. Who can swim out furthest?

Reegs: You've got a twin brother,

Dan: I have. Yeah, yeah.

Reegs: do you, did you have that

Dan: Fierce, yeah, fiercely competitive when we were kids over everything. We used to lie in bed. Last one to put their hand down, we'd have to lift our arm up in bed. And the last one to put it down with, you know, and it would, you'd be there for way long, way longer than you should be.

With your arm in the air and all things like that. Related a little bit to the competitive edge. These two brothers have, but Vincent would always lose. What's his brother's name? It's Anton. And he is Anton was just stronger and knew he was, he was faster. And of course, Vincent. quit and lost every time because he gets scared or and he he kind of got used to losing I guess but one day and it's probably a little bit later on down the line in the film they shows but one day he he they have an argument and he's he's more determined than ever And he beats him and they there's a storm can't really see and his brother turns back

and he has to save him and he kind of pulls him back in and for a reason that the film doesn't really explain it doesn't seem to push them closer together I think he's he's felt a bit of a failure his brother and he's he just can't

Sidey: he's never lost him, it's

Dan: this freak of nature that yeah that's happened and then we kind of cut back to Um, Well,

Sidey: Well, he's also been dreaming about space flight and, and the stars, that's his ambition, but he knows that he won't be able to achieve it because he would never be selected because of his

Reegs: Well, they, he talks you through the interview process, which is that, you know, you go there and you're essentially asked to give a sample for whatever reasons. They can't compel you to give you one. They might say for a drugs test, but they'll, they'll get one from where you touch the door on the way in or an eyelash you dropped or something.

And. You know, you'll be select, you'll be tested, and if you don't have the desirable qualities, you're not high potential enough. You haven't got a chance of being a, whatever the fuck he is at Gatr, a sort of course planner. He plans

Dan: Well, yeah, he, he charts, he charts and plots spaceship pathways

Sidey: tech they had seemed fairly low,

Dan: Yeah, I mean, it

Reegs: it, yeah, yeah,

Dan: it

Sidey: but it didn't detract from anything.

Dan: but no, cause they're all sat in rows and it, it's all very,

Sidey: bit like the Muppets Christmas Carol where

They work in the accounts, like no one, like, it's

all

Dan: all like, it's

Sidey: desk, desk. No one talks, they just sit there rigidly, like tapping away on their little tiny consoles, like

Reegs: One thing I really regret that we missed talking about up front, and I do want to go back to it because it is actually important is that right at the beginning, when we see Ethan Hawke, like pretending to do all this stuff, he goes into the doctor who comments on his dick, right? He says, beautiful piece of equipment you have there.

I've written it down.

Sidey: I was watching it and I'm going, I

Reegs: That's weird.

Sidey: about his dick quite this much.

Reegs: he talks about his dick. And it turns out to be a really important plot

Sidey: a really

Reegs: to be revisited later. So yeah, it's.

Sidey: Yeah,

Dan: Yeah, no, it's worth, it's

Sidey: There's no, like, privacy room, or it just.

Reegs: It's so bizarre. He just says,

Dan: has to watch him while he, he gives a sample. I think that's what it is. He, he needs to be shown to be given the

Reegs: fair enough, but on, I caught talking about it, is that, or is that just to put the guy at ease? That is a lovely cock you got there, or

Dan: I, I assumed then, if we're gonna talk Cox and this bit, that it was a prosthetic that he'd put

together with his, with the guy's, the other guy's piss because what we haven't

Reegs: I think a little tube underneath the glands and

Dan: all later because we haven't even met Jude Law yet.

Reegs: No.

Dan: Vincent basically wants to get into work for Gattaca because that's the only way he's going to get up on one of those rockets. Which is his dream. To do that, he finds

Reegs: Well, he gets as close as he can. First of all, which is to be a janitor there.

Sidey: to be a

Reegs: be a kind of underclass that so he can sit and watch and observe the rockets.

And that's as close as he can get, you know, that's his genes, his, his genes. Vincent's genes have limited him to being able to watch that, but he won't take that. And there are other options and those other options in court include something. Is it called a broken ladder? Is that what they refer to it? A person who

Dan: a

Reegs: borrowed ladder.

And it's like a secret thing of identity swapping essentially, and committing to this thing, which is what he organizes with Jude Law's character.

Dan: Yeah, so he that's why he found a fixer who is able to connect him with Jude Law, who's a valid. He's a guy with perfect genetics.

But he broke his back. He didn't tell anyone about it. And he was able to to get back into his house and everything and just kind of live this anonymous life and then rent out himself his persona and his genes. To the highest bidder, which turns out to be Ethan Hawke, who's looking for, and he's not actually a million miles away from him,

Sidey: See, we do, we see how that works in, in different ways. We've seen him take a piss, we've seen the blood under the

finger. And then at his workstation, he meticulously has to hoover up, or vacuum, I should say. Keyboard and his desk and the director comes over and comments on it and he says, oh, you know cleanliness is next to godliness but then he's got a little vial of skin samples and and one and a strand of hair that he meticulously puts on the comb and then he drops down the The skin samples on his keyboard to give this, you know impression that he's this other

Dan: And

Reegs: And yeah, amazingly, they've got a photo of him absolutely everywhere. And yes, you're right, they are not a million miles away from each other, but they are still two different people and it's, it's everything else.

All the testing and stuff that lets them have this dual life together, live a complete life. These two broken people live one complete life. That's kind of

Dan: It's Thanks

to the poor resolution on their video

Sidey: Shorty, isn't it?

Reegs: Yeah.

Dan: isn't it? Because it's just dark enough and grainy enough

Sidey: and they, they just trust. They just trust it. If it says it's good, they're like, yeah, that's fine.

Dan: This is it. Yeah.

Reegs: We didn't mention he has to have his legs broken and, and extended to

Sidey: And that's another thing that you can actually do now, which just seems fucking

Dan: So, in order to, to fully take on Jerome which is Jude Lord's character and his genetic perfection and become walking again the walking Jerome, if you like and to pass then the test in the interview to get into Gattaca, he's got to go through all these tests and As they get closer and closer he feels he's ready to go, Ethan Hawke, and they say, No, you're like, too short.

And

they have to, as you say, break his legs, reset them and get him to about six foot one or

Sidey: I think he has, is it a couple of inches?

Reegs: three inches, I think they

Dan: Yeah. So, that's taken some time.

And I think they re and I think they really connect and they, they do have these conversations about, do you really want to do this? Do you, you know, how much did it mean?

And I think when

Reegs: think when Well, Jude Law's got an interesting story as well, because even Does this come out now?

Sidey: until much later

that you find out about the silver medal, yeah.

It's not until much later. You just think, you just don't know, isn't it?

You're not told. You assume it's some accident.

Reegs: Where he's a lush as well. You know, he's permanently drunk. There's more vodka in this piss than there is vodka. There's more. That's right. There's more vodka in this piss than there is piss

Sidey: is bits. Bit of a fuckin arsehole. Anyway, they do eventually get him into Gattaca, and the, the crux of the story, like, what really accelerates things along, is that someone is murdered at Gattaca.

Just

Reegs: Just a week before he Ethan Hawke is due to go to Titan, one of Satan's moons.

Sidey: I'm just

Dan: Just die.

Don't worry about

Sidey: in

Dan: I'm just, I'm just dying in the corner. Hey, carry on.

Reegs: You never saved anything for the swim back, are you

Dan: No, I didn't.

Sidey: didn't. Yeah, someone, one of the directors or someone important

Reegs: Gore Vidal is murdered, isn't he? No, he does the murdering, doesn't he?

Sidey: And so that's gonna lead to an investigation in which you're thinking, fuck, he's been careful, but it only takes, you know, a one bit of fucking skin, you know,

Reegs: One eyelash, which is literally what he does.

Sidey: course he hasn't done it. But, all eyes will be on him because he is the one who is there.

Reegs: He's an invalid.

Sidey: Yes he's tricked his way in, so that's the, the thing for the, not only would he potentially be

fingered for the murder, but he's gonna just be found out and lose his, out on his dream of going on the rocket.

Dan: it could be found out by Uma Thurman, who's leading the investigation into this or supporting the investigators anyway. And it is there. Yeah, she is the that Gattaca's kind of person on the inside, who's going to be doing this internal investigation.

Reegs: She has an interesting story as well, doesn't she?

Cause she suspects him as well as courts him. She suspects him and take some of his genetic material, but finds out from an independent DNA tester that he's, that Jerome is everything he's cracked up to be high potential.

Sidey: potential. First of all, there's a scene where, like where she does that, there's these places where you can go and just get something scanned and they, and a woman just walks up and they're like prodding her, like swabbing her lips and it took me a few seconds to realize you just get off of someone and you go and find out

if the person's worth it.

So she was having that done and the next booth, she's getting, I think she found the hair, was it in the comb and she has that found and it comes back, you know, another thing they're in the future and yet they still print out fucking reams of paper.

Dan: Yeah, yeah, well. It was interesting, Listen, should just say that. 'cause it reminded me of a radio program I heard today about like ancestry.com and you know, those other that once you put it into them like Ancestry,

Reegs: in a DNA, they can create clones of

Dan: They, they've got that DNA and they can keep it in the records and whether they're gonna use it.

Or not use it. I mean

Sidey: It's the same as any smartwatch, all that reading, it's just giving more and more

Dan: years, but your actual dna Is something not like your movements

Reegs: your onesie. Looks like it's covered in DNA to me. .

Dan: Well It's not all mine. But they

Sidey: But they do find, to get back to the murder investigation, they do find a rogue

Reegs: Oh, well, but just quickly, just because we were just talking about her cause she with the DNA and then she offers her DNA to his, but sort of say to him, to Ethan Hawke and confesses, I had you tested and she's a bit like, oh, I'm a bit shit by the way.

I'm not allowed to go cause I've got a heart problem convenient and enough for the plot,

Sidey: but,

Reegs: You know, you can get me tested and he like, let's go of it. You know,

Dan: Oops, the wind caught it.

Yeah.

Reegs: their true

Dan: he doesn't really care.

Reegs: And also he's an invalid anyway, so he understands more than anyone.

Dan: Yeah.

Reegs: So yeah, anyway, back to the plot, plot, plot.

Sidey: Alan Arkin is there looking great, like a proper gumshoe with his hat and everything. It looks really cool. And he's kind of, he's

sort of

wise, wily old detective. He kind of knows that this is bound to be

Dan: Some it's almost Columbo vibes. He wasn't quite giving up was he on anything and he has this

Method

to go through

each and every person and get samples

Sidey: his hunch. He's kind of old school and he's got a hunch and that's like more to him than the data like he's like, well, it just feels like it's going to be blah. So I've, you know, I've seen this sort of stuff before and do we know right away that the boss is?

Reegs: It's pretty, it's pretty soon because it's after a little bit of cat and mouse and when he blows the smoke in the thing and also, oh, there's a good scene when they're stopped after a night out and he won't give a sample and then they send somebody around to the house and he,

is

Sidey: No, first, first of all, , they get stopped in the tunnel.

There's a road check. They're just stopping everyone and scanning them doing on on the spot blood.

Because he's got contacts in, he has to take them out. And throw them on the floor and then as they they managed to get through the roadblock. Irene pulls the car over seems really irresponsibly just leaves it by side of the car and runs across the freeway. It's come on. I want to show you this thing he's got eyesight like flamboyant.

He cannot

Reegs: cannot see a thing,

Sidey: and he basically has to just. Guess and run across the

motorway.

Yeah, everything's just complete blurred, like car noises coming at you. He makes it across and they go and have this really romantic, sort of, evening. Yeah. And they fuck.

Dan: they do.

Sidey: But the investigation is kind of closing in on him because they just keep turning up everywhere.

And there's only so many ways you can, if you're prepared, you can have a vial of blood or you can do blood, but if it's on spec, then you're going to get caught out eventually. So the net is kind of closing in because there's another

event that they they've now got this romantic thing going on and earlier on they had tried to point the finger at the director at Gattaca, and he said, Well, no, you just check my

Reegs: The logs or whatever,

Sidey: check, check my fucking files, my DNA, my brother, I have, you know, all my violent tendencies, like we're gone, you know, blah, blah, blah.

And so, but then it turns out that actually, it fucking was him. And it's just, it's kind of like revealed all of a sudden that they've got the guy.

And he's

Reegs: the reveal at this point is that the guy, the lead detective is actually Vincent's brother, right?

That's because I remembered that when I was watching this, but in the chronology of watching this movie, you've seen this character a few times, the lead detective, but you have no idea it's Vincent's brother.

Sidey: So what was distracting me was he looks Uncannily like Elliot Smith, a musician I really like and I kept like looking up like saying it's fucking gotta be him. It's gotta be him. And then like there was like fuck it's his brother. And so there's this sort of semi reveal is that it was the director and because they're so close to launch and nothing can stop that now he just happily just gives it up and this guy was threatening the launch to say killed him and now it's all locked in and it's going to go.

He's just happy to cooperate and blah blah. So the murder element of it falls away.

Reegs: Yes, but this is when the brother is won't let it go because he, he,

Sidey: well, he knows he's fucking lied and, and fraudulent. He's still committed a crime. Yeah. He's, and, and also I was thinking, well, okay, he might get to do it, but it's still like fucking irresponsible.

He could just die on the flight and then they've gotta fucking have a corpse with him.

Reegs: We didn't talk about with just a quick one because we are going to be wrapping the story up in a minute.

But Jerome, he broke his back, not when he was drunk. It was important. It was, did we talk about this? That he was hit by a car. It was just a pure fluke. But he also reveals that, you know, even with all of the genetic advantages that he had in life, he came second.

Sidey: He couldn't take it.

So he walked out in front of the traffic.

Dan: Yeah, that's what he said.

He wasn't drunk. He'd

Sidey: he couldn't take coming second.

So he had walked out. He'd done it on purpose.

And so, yeah, there was that. And so it's just the, the, the, the tension in the story now is will he get on the flight? Will Vincent make

Dan: And he's got a couple more tests to go because they're still putting in,

like, extra

Sidey: in some new protocols,

Dan: yeah, to

Sidey: Matey Matey who loves his dick.

Has one final, he's like, well,

this is, this, don't normally do this. And he's like, oh, well, it's a new thing they

Reegs: Heightened security or whatever

Dan: He's always talking about his son. He goes, I never told you about my son, do I? I never told you about my son. He's never got kind of time to talk about it.

But it turns out his son's an invalid as well. Yeah,

Sidey: And,

Reegs: no, he was genetically selected. No, he was genetically selected, but he wasn't The quote is, he wasn't all that they promised. So even with all of his genetic advantages, he was a bit shit, basically.

Sidey: So he was the best that they could get his genes to be, but that still wasn't good enough, I

Reegs: I think it's about fulfilling potential, isn't it? Because the movie talks about this quite a lot of the time. So he had a lot of potential and never fulfilled any of it. Whereas Ethan Hawke is

Sidey: gone

above and beyond,

Reegs: above and beyond. Yeah. But he says, yeah, I mean, he, he let it, they do the part, they

Sidey: where he's, he just

Reegs: as he's recounting this story of his own son.

He does a test that clearly demonstrates

Sidey: I think he admits that.

And then that he said, well, this is it. I'm fucked. He just stresses it. He says, well, we're going to have a problem then.

Reegs: And he says to him, right handed men don't hold it with their left. That's how, yeah. For future reference. That's how he basically tells him it's going to be okay.

Sidey: going to let you through. And I've fucking known since day one.

Reegs: Yeah.

Dan: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. And he, he's kind of has this this son, so he, he wants to keep the dream alive that just because you're not born with the, the best genetics and, and the topper, it doesn't mean that. You have to give up or that you're gonna have, you know, you are almost painting him out to be an inspirational guy for everybody else who isn't genetically

Sidey: genetically superior. Yeah, yeah. Anton is beaten again and he's the one who stops and says look Vince this is stupid we're gonna fucking, because it's bad conditions I was thinking this is reckless and they go out and he swims a bit further and he says no no I'm fucking gonna keep going so Anton swims a bit more with him and then he's just like no I can't go any

Reegs: He realises they're both going to die,

like, they're both

Dan: to

Sidey: have you done this how did you beat me and he said I just never saved anything for the swim back

Dan: Yeah. And Ethan Hawke said that was one of his favourite lines in, Ever.

In film. Yeah, yeah. That he really liked.

Reegs: There's a few good ones. The closing narration on this is great as well.

Yeah, so. Which is the closing, that's the closing narration as the rocket launches as a, as a whole load of sort of exposition about looking up to the stars and Titan and all that sort of stuff, but also we watch Jude Law immolate himself in their home incinerator, which is

Sidey: Where's his medal?

Reegs: And honestly, man, I kept thinking about this because I was like, is this a really horribly ableist movie?

Like, is this like a horrible depiction of disability? But what I figured is it was the movies like, this is all about eugenics and sex and such. This is the logical conclusion of somebody who has a disability in this

Sidey: world. Yeah,

Reegs: That is the point. And there is, so it's not saying that, you know, you shouldn't carry on.

It's not talking about that. It's not promoting an

Dan: what hopefully is a warning to don't walk, you know, blindly into a future like this where you're going to give away genetics and allow it to become the science of prejudice and things.

It's just like, no, because the human spirit. Is able to overcome even those genetic flaws if you really want something enough,

Sidey: his, his story in the film is that. He's able to fulfill a dream by living kind of vicarious like kind of tenuous.

Reegs: Who, Jerome? Yeah.

Sidey: He he says you gave me a dream or something like that doesn't need to

Reegs: Yeah, he's like, I gave you my body, or my

Sidey: gave me a dream.

Reegs: me a dream. You know, so you gave him a reason to live.

Sidey: and once he's fulfilled it, then He just fucking incinerates

Dan: Well, I mean, he, as you say, he liked to drink anyway.

Sidey: was saying he was like 90 percent proof, so he would have gone up

dead

Dan: gone up there quick. He would have been really quick. But he was, he was, know, without Vincent I think he was really lost it himself anyway.

He was. You know,

Sidey: he, was right to do it.

Dan: he didn't have any of those those life plans and emotions. As you say, in this world, it just wasn't gonna be for

Sidey: he like his

Reegs: There is no place, there's like literally no place for him in this world. If Ethan Hawke, you know,

Sidey: I was amazed there was a wheelchair.

Reegs: what like, that's the limit of what he can, yeah, exactly. It's, it's amazing there's even a wheelchair.

Dan: At one point, he's in the wheelchair when a cop comes up to

Sidey: Gives him, a load of shit, yeah.

Dan: to, Get

Reegs: I want your badge number.

Dan: and yeah,

Sidey: I'm injured. I got injured in training. What's

Dan: How

Sidey: That was what's his face?

Reegs: as a prick in

Sidey: That was what's his face from Breaking Bad. He was showing it.

Reegs: Who? Oh, I didn't catch that.

Sidey: The, the cop, Hank,

Reegs: Oh yes, it was, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Sidey: Did you like Jude Law's Staircase?

Dan: Yeah, I liked this.

Sidey: It was the, it was the genome thing, wasn't it?

It was the DNA

secret strand.

Dan: liked lots

in this film. And yeah, as I say, lots of hidden meanings and worth repeat viewings. I think there's something in the Gattaca kind of logo that means something else. But it stands

Reegs: great insight, thanks.

Dan: Yeah. Yeah, well, you have to watch it yourself. I'm not giving you all the hints, but it stands the test of time. This, this is 25 plus years old. And as a sci fi movie that actually

Hits on

notes that you think, wow, that could be true. That could be, you know, not like crazy stuff. This is very real. And you think, I don't know, the budget or stuff like that, but it didn't look a lot, but

Sidey: We wanna know?

Budget for it was 36 million dollars.

Reegs: I imagine this was a sleeper hit because it's probably way too

Dan: too complicated to

market. As far as I know, it was an absolute flop at the time. It just went through the

Reegs: Well, I decide he's got the actuals. We don't need

Dan: Well, go on.

Reegs: it.

Sidey: Twelve and a half million.

Reegs: Yeah, floppity

Sidey: That's a big floppy

Reegs: Hard to market. I would say.

Sidey: Well, do you want to talk about the marketing because when it was first released part of the marketing campaign There were adverts for people to call and have their children genetically engineered and thousands of people called the lines

Reegs: Good,

Sidey: So, you know there's definitely demand

for that kind of thing so

Dan: a demand for it.

Reegs: It's a real good example of the, we could do it, but should we type discussion.

Just really great stuff and, and directed very stylishly, but it's mostly the production design as well of the world is really good.

It

Sidey: I think because they don't lean into like Making it look super futuristic.

Reegs: It's just enough sci-fi to let you

Sidey: It's sort of timeless. Yeah.

Reegs: and, but

Dan: Yeah, with the buildings and the way that it's shot, the costumes they've got on,

Sidey: suits

mostly.

Reegs: in service of the story as

Dan: story as well,

Reegs: great thing about

Dan: got that kind of, you know, that borrowed ladder, this future slang that they throw in every now and again and, yeah, it's very Orwellian kind of future

Sidey: Ernest Borgne as

well. Yeah.

Dan: Yeah.

Well, I would say go and

Reegs: he a wolf this world? No,

Yes. Was he a helicopter?

Sidey: Yes. You say

Reegs: a helicopter in this as well.

Sidey: Yeah.

Dan: It was good.

Sidey: Yeah. I, I thought it was great. It's a strong, strong recommend for me.

Reegs: I remembered this being good.

So it's good to watch something and

Sidey: Oh yeah.

Reegs: Fuck it. All this is still really

Sidey: the thing I remembered about it. Going into it this time was the dude with twelve fingers for you. You could only play that those piano.

Oh yeah. Pieces with it.

well. Yeah, that's good. So yeah, I loved it.

Dan: Check it out.