Gattaca [DVD]

One of my favourite films - been looking for a while for it on Bluray. Not a technical expert but on my average 4k TV & player the picture looks fabulous.Version I got looks to be European - all the packaging text is in German with a green FSK/12 logo on the front corner. Menu & film itself though default to English with no subtitles.Don't want to give away too much of the plot but the film is set in a near-future society where someone's genetic makeup determines their place in society. Those with sufficiently accurate DNA are described as 'Valid' and those without are referred to as 'Invalid'. One of the organisations in this society is the Gattaca space exploration corporation who only recruit Valids with the most perfect genetic profiles. The story follows someone (Ethan Hawke) who is an Invalid, but wants to travel into space and how he goes about achieving his goal.Along the way though you get to appreciate the fantastic sets, retro-style outfits and understated acting of the cast. The interior & exterior of a Frank Lloyd Wright building in California is heavily used as a location and it suits the film perfectly.Its not an action film - and there are no spectacular special effects - but its hugely thought-provoking around genetic selection, nurture verses nature, and human potential and achievement.If you like great looking, intelligent sci-fi that will stick in your mind long after the end credits this is a film for you.

CRISPR-Cas9 is a powerful, inexpensive gene editing technique developed in the early 2010s. You'd be forgiven for thinking that Gattaca had been written as a response to this, yet the movie pre-dates this scientific breakthrough by at least 4 years. For folks who spend their days thinking about the ethical issues of genetic manipulation, the movie's division of society into genetic strata - from those possessing "superior" genes to those of inferior stock - somewhat unsubtle. Nevertheless, quality screenwriting and acting ensure that we care about their storylines; and this is the key to making this movie both important as well as highly watchable.

This is a movie I have watched before and was looking forward to enjoying it again. However, when I played it through my Roku streaming device, there was no sound. I went back to Roku's home screen and tried playing something off YouTube — sound is okay. Went back to Prime and started playing some other movie — sound is fine. Returned to Gattaca — no sound. Conclusion: the sound on this movie is defective. Of course, having already started playing it, I could not return it, so I ended up paying Amazon £2.49 rental for nothing. Having said that, I watched Knives Out — free and with perfect sound — so I felt somewhat mollified. I would gladly have paid £2.49 for my replacement movie — it was brilliant!

Gattaca is one of my all time favourite films.Set in a near future where DNA is genetically modified for specific traits and hereditary conditions are erased.It follows our main character Vincent, who hasn't been genetically modified an 'in-valid' who dreams of working for the space agency GATTACA, but doesn't have the genetic credentials. He enlists the help of Jerome a 'valid' who through an accident was paralysed.Beautifully shot and written with an equally beautiful score by Michael Nyman. There are stand out performanes by Ethan Hawke, Jude Law and Uma Thurman.Gattaca is an intelligently written, multi faceted film that I don't even think can be catagorised, yes it is sci-fi but also suspense, thriller and also a story of love and friendship.This is a film that is deeply affecting. The story stays with you long after it's finished, it really makes you think about what it means to be human and the power of the human spirit, even in the face of adversity.5 out of 5 stars, highly recommend.

I'd seen this before but decided to buy the DVD as it is one of those movies that sticks in your mind. I'm glad I did as this is a classic which is probably rather underrated for whatever reason. The time of genetic discrimination is not yet upon us but it is only a matter of time. I sensed parallels between this and the classic Blade Runner, which in a similar (although of course much more classic) way probed the discriminatory environments which we are yet to enter - in BRs case with androids of course.

One of our favourite films. Brings ethical issues around generic engineering of humans to life. Full of emotion and struggles, its a bittersweet film. The young ethan hawke, uma thurman and jude lawe are joys to watch. The soundtrack is exceptional. Though the film is from 1996 (i think?), 24 years later the film is still great by today's standards. Highly recommended