CONTACT (68)

Directed by: Robert Zemeckis

Starring: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Skerritt

The Pitch: Extraterrestrials contact Earth, sending digital blueprints for a manned spacecraft.

Theo Sez: As the last remaining Earthling with serious doubts about the likelihood of aliens making an appearance anytime soon (I love CLOSE ENCOUNTERS as a tale of oddball dreamers dreaming impossible dreams, and invariably switch off as it becomes clear that it's actually about E.T.s landing), I can't help being a bit miffed that Hollywood is (apparently) only able to produce a sober and intelligent movie on the subject of little green men ; none of which, however, is to deny the film its undoubted sobriety and intelligence. Serious-minded, visually sombre and rather aloof, making it clear that the Ignorant Masses have no place in Science - significantly, when the inter-planetary mission turns into a media circus it almost wrecks the entire project - its aim is to get those same Masses interested in questions (how to reconcile science and faith? does the deification of Reason preclude the notion of divine will?) rarely addressed in mainstream, or indeed arthouse, movies. You have to admire its consistency in abhorring flashiness - it's the kind of film that can have two incredible, how-did-they-do-that shots in the space of a minute without making any kind of fuss, let alone flaunting its technology ; and you have to applaud the way it does serious things (using total silence in its opening shot, humanising Skerritt's slimeball character through an everyone-has- their-reasons speech) in summer-movie confines. That it treats its weighty themes superficially, or is prone to the occasional cliche (how do we know a breakthrough is just round the corner? because Foster's colleagues tell her to "face reality. We lost. It's over."), or takes refuge in ludicrous love-interest or a cowardly final twist, isn't really the point : you might as well complain about the anachronism of the Russian astronaut aboard Mir greeting our heroine as "Comrade Arroway" - as if audiences knew or cared about the difference between Soviets and plain old Russkies. The point is to give intricate information plainly and concisely, try and stimulate the mind a little, and maybe even take a tiny step towards a more relevant and grown-up Hollywood cinema : like the man said, "Small moves, Ellie...Small moves."