There's little wonder in the working-class lives of Bill, Eileen, and their three grown daughters. They're lonely Londoners. Nadia, a cafe waitress, places personal ads, looking for love; ... See full summary »
An unsuspecting, disenchanted man finds himself working as a spy in the dangerous, high-stakes world of corporate espionage. Quickly getting way over-his-head, he teams up with a mysterious femme fatale.
Eunice is walking along the highways of northern England from one filling station to another. She is searching for Judith, the woman, she says to be in love with. It's bad luck for the ... See full summary »
Rosie and Vincent know each other for ten years, and are married for five. She doesn't like her job, he isn't too pleased working with her dad. They're trying to have a baby. One morning ... See full summary »
Director:
Michael Winterbottom
Stars:
Christopher Eccleston,
Dervla Kirwan,
Yvan Attal
In February 2002 in the Shamshatoo Refugee Camp in the North West Frontier Province in Pakistan, there are 53,000 refugees living in sub-human conditions since 1979 with the Soviet Union ... See full summary »
This film charts the relationship between a man imprisoned for drug smuggling and his wife and is being shot over the course of five years, a few weeks at a time.
The story of two Scottish "squaddies" (young, trainee soldiers) who hitchhike to Budapest to go to a concert of the band Simple Minds. The film is a love triangle between the two soldiers and one beautiful Hungarian girl.
Director:
Michael Winterbottom
Stars:
Ewen Bremner,
Brian McCardie,
Zsuzsanna Várkonyi
Code 46 is a love story set in a Brave New World-type near-future where cities are heavily controlled and only accessible through checkpoints. People cannot travel unless they have "papeles" (papers in Spanish; words and sentences in many languages, especially Spanish, French and Chinese are mixed with English in this new world), a special travel permit issued by the totalitarian government, the "Sphinx". Outside these cities, the desert has taken over and shanty towns are jammed with non-citizens - people without IDs forced to live primitive lives. William is a family man who works as a government investigator. When he is sent to Shanghai to solve a case of fake IDs, he meets a woman named Maria. Although he realizes she is behind the forgeries, he cannot help but fall completely in love with her. He hides her crime and they have a wild, passionate affair that can only last as long as his visa: 24 hours. Back home, William is obsessed with the memory of Maria. When the original ... Written by
Anonymous
Code 46 refers to the 22 chromosome pairs, plus the two sex chromosomes in human beings. See more »
Goofs
The numerous seeming "errors in geography" are actually an intentional artistic choice. Because the film is set in a future where global cultures have become thoroughly merged, Michael Winterbottom purposely blended footage shot in Shanghai, Dubai and Rajastahn so that Shanghai has a desert outside it, etc. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Title Card:
code 46 / article 1 / any human being who shares the same nuclear gene set as another human being is deemed to be genetically identical. the relations of one are the relations of all. / due to IVF, DI embryo splitting and cloning techniques it is necessary to prevent any accidental or deliberate genetically incestuous reproduction. / therefore: / i. all prospective parents should be genetically screened before conception. if they have 100%, 50% or 25% genetic identity, they are not...
See more »
No Woman No Cry
Written by Vincent Ford
Used by Permission of Fifty-Six Hope Road Music Limited/
Odnil Music Limited/Blue Mountain Music Limited
All Rights for the World Administered by Rykomusic Limited See more »
First of all I was impressed by the moody shots of Shanghai and the other locations used. Almost had that Blade Runner feel for planting you in a believable future. So many films of this genre, and with massively higher budgets, often fail to achieve the lightness of touch shown here. Not the usual obviously nailed-on FX, but instead subtle and credible gizmos with the personalised touch, like Maria's cuckoo-call tone and graphics on her personal organiser that William uses when trying to find her. And the Esperanto-style combination of phrases everyone uses, from Spanish, French, Chinese etc could easily be envisaged in years to come.
But what really let it down ultimately was the story. Just at the point where you wanted the narrative to move up a gear, instead it just hung there and became a bit self-indulgent. The actors made an excellent job of an often dull script. Maybe the writer couldn't think how to end it. A shame, as it was an opportunity squandered in my opinion.
I got the feeling that Frank Cottrell Boyce, though coming up with some thought - provoking ideas in this film and having done excellent work elsewhere, possibly needed to have collaborated with another writer that could have injected some pace and fresh perspective just at the point the film ran out of steam. I'm a great fan of Michael Winterbottom's (especially on "Jude")evocative and atmospheric camera-work, but that alone couldn't salvage the film from ultimately being disappointing.
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First of all I was impressed by the moody shots of Shanghai and the other locations used. Almost had that Blade Runner feel for planting you in a believable future. So many films of this genre, and with massively higher budgets, often fail to achieve the lightness of touch shown here. Not the usual obviously nailed-on FX, but instead subtle and credible gizmos with the personalised touch, like Maria's cuckoo-call tone and graphics on her personal organiser that William uses when trying to find her. And the Esperanto-style combination of phrases everyone uses, from Spanish, French, Chinese etc could easily be envisaged in years to come.
But what really let it down ultimately was the story. Just at the point where you wanted the narrative to move up a gear, instead it just hung there and became a bit self-indulgent. The actors made an excellent job of an often dull script. Maybe the writer couldn't think how to end it. A shame, as it was an opportunity squandered in my opinion.
I got the feeling that Frank Cottrell Boyce, though coming up with some thought - provoking ideas in this film and having done excellent work elsewhere, possibly needed to have collaborated with another writer that could have injected some pace and fresh perspective just at the point the film ran out of steam. I'm a great fan of Michael Winterbottom's (especially on "Jude")evocative and atmospheric camera-work, but that alone couldn't salvage the film from ultimately being disappointing.