Gattaca

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For over a year, now, fans have been waiting for the previously announced and then shelved Blu-ray release of "Gattaca." Well, it's finally here . . . and with new cover art that shows a double helix spinning off of the double "T"s in the title.

That's appropriate, of course, since "Gattaca" is an intelligent sci-fi film that thoughtfully considers what it would be like to be one of the very last "natural" humans in a world that has tipped toward genetically engineered babies. The mother of Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) refused to special-order her child the way that other parents were doing in order to eliminate genes that would produce defects such as nearsightedness, heart conditions, alcoholism, high blood pressure, or any number of things that would result in a less-than-perfect human being with a less-than-phenomenal life span.

So where has genetic engineering led? Not surprisingly, to a world in which perfection is not only prized, but used as a new form of class system to privilege the best-engineered beings and discriminate against those who fall short of perfection. It's interesting (and a big plus) that writer-director Andrew Niccol, who also penned "The Truman Show," opted to focus on character and downplay the horror of a world like this. It's better that he leaves it to the audience to project themselves into this futuristic landscape and decide for themselves what life would be like. Niccol seems to try his best to avoid reductive thinking, creating a world where we can see both advantages and disadvantages. But personally? I don't think I could live in a society where thumb-pricks and syringes take blood samples to verify a person's identification on a daily basis. Count me out.

In a world like this, if you have any ambition whatsoever, you have to find a way to beat the system that relegates you to second- or third-class citizenship. That's exactly what Vincent Freeman (the last man "free" to choose) does. Through a black-market matchmaker he's put in touch with a former super-being with impeccable genes who was left in a wheelchair after a freak accident--one of the few wild cards remaining in a world that pretty much tells you when and how you'll leave this life. The disabled Jerome Morrow is nearly genetically perfect, which means he would be automatically given the top job at a place like Gattaca Aerospace, which sends astronauts into space for long periods of time. Space travel has been a dream of Vincent's, and so the two men meet, pay the middle man his commission, and begin living together in a symbiotic relationship. Jerome gets taken care of and is supplied with all the liquor he consumes to dull the pain of his short-circuited life, while Vincent gets Jerome's identity. But with all the blood and urine testing, it basically sets Jerome up as a little blood and urine bank, creating pouches of blood and urine on a daily basis during those windows of opportunity when the samples wouldn't be too tainted by alcohol. Using clever means and devices, Vincent manages to use Jerome's bodily fluids in order to gain entry into the Gattaca space program and quickly rise to the top of the flight charts.

So many sci-fi films rely on a jazzy or gimmicky production design to help "sell" the futuristic world that it's almost refreshing that Niccol chose to go with a more understated look to match the understated plot. Make no mistake, this is a character-driven film that, as such, holds broader appeal than futurism and sci-fi usually offer. People who don't normally gravitate toward science fiction will be drawn to this film, and that's largely because its central issues go beyond science fiction and "Gattaca" never loses sight of the humanity that drives it. The sets look only semi-futuristic (the Gattaca building is actually the Marin County Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957!), never so in-your-face that it makes the film's central issues seem far-removed. In addition, the bold costume design by Colleen Atwood ("Sweeny Todd") serves as another bridge between our world and this far-flung futuristic society, because it calls to mind a style that we saw in the Forties. Who would have thought to go backward in time for a futuristic film but an Oscar-winning designer ("Memoirs of a Geisha," "Chicago")? It's what gives "Gattaca" a timeless look and what helps us identify better with the characters.

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