Movie of My Week: Contact (1997)
Sunday, June 6, 2010 at 12:01AM 
I love this movie so much, I even put it ahead of "Close Encounters," which I love for Spielberg's kind take on the government's response (i.e., good people trying to do the right thing--however secretly).
I saw the movie before I read the book, and I've always thought it was Jodie Foster's coolest performance, because her lead character is so compelling and so strong that I just love showing it to my daughters because such films are still maddeningly rare.
I also think it's Robert Zemecki's best film, even better than "Forrest Gump," which is cloying in many places.
Specific things I like:
- That stunning opening sequence is a mind-blower (pulling back from Earth and giving you a sense of the reach of radio waves);
- I love the early sequences with the daughter and father, and how they're used to set up later stuff (I'm also a huge David Morse fan);
- I love Arroway's obession with her work and especially her sales scene at Haddon industry, when she loses it;
- I like the long-distance, irregular love story with Matthew McConaughey's spiritually opposite character (a bit didactic, but neat);
- I love the scenario of the discovery, especially the way Zemecki's paces it and make a mere sound seem so dramatic;
- I love the scenario of the unfolding of the building of the machine and how the whole discovery of life freaks out the planet in religious terms.
- I love the Japanese bargaining on the systems integration work and the whole long-term duel between Foster's character and Tom Skerritt's nasty bureaucrat;
- I love James Woods as the national security adviser and his reasonably justified fears ("Why is it always the consensus of the eggheads . . .");
- And I especially love John Hurt's "S.R. Haddon" character (both appearances are thrilling [his "Wanna take a ride?" line sends a chill down my spine] and I still cannot understand why he did not receive a supporting actor nomination); and finally,
- I love how Zemeckis did the whole journey across the universe bit at the end.
I've watched the movie maybe 20 times, and just watched it again this week in my home theater with my eldest son, who declared it the best scifi movie he's ever seen--on the spot!
Kev then threatened to watch it again with a friend he had over and--if he had--I probably would have watched it yet again.
I don't have on Blu-Ray, but will get it eventually. And yet, watching it on my Blu-Ray machine and my HD projector, I was stunned at how good the print looked. The cinematography on this film, in my opinion, is as good as it gets.
Reader Comments (4)
Agree with all the above.It has it all and more.
....the scene where Jodi is watching the White presentation in person ...and the TV screen behind her is displaying the action on the podium .....and we get to see her boss...her reaction ..with no editing needed...Genius .
A bit like Fargo to me..if I see a little bit of it...I just have to stop and watch it all.
Could only list so many! But agree. Zemeckis had his ability to mesh things like that (real-world and fictional) at the top of its game in this movie, far more so, in my mind, than the cutesy-pie stuff of Gump.
The movie is just one spine-tingling moment of discovery after the next (not aliens crashing through a wall, or explosions--just discoveries and insights and a-ha! moments). I just don't know of any other movie that is at once so tensely driven, so intellectual, and so exciting and gorgeous looking at the same time.
To me, it's a geek classic like Close Encounters and Deep Impact.
The similarity? The excellent scenario work undergirding everything. If the scenario does not sell, the movie does not work.
I'm not surprised you dig it, Javaid.
Contact got a deserved Oscar nom for its Sound.
When an missed Oscar nod is suggested I like to consider which actual nod should be dropped. In this case I'd be willing to slip in Hurt in place of Anthony Hopkins for Amistad, which wasn't particularly fine work for Hopkins, not on the level of his greatest stuff. (Lecter, C.S. Lewis, Merchant/Ivory stuff). Burt Reynolds wasn't that great in Boogie Nights but that was a career honor. Robert Forester was deserving for Jackie Brown as was Greg Kinnear in As Good As It Gets. Robin Willliams got the statue for Good Will Hunting in a career performance.
The John Hurt performance that has always got to me is from Midnight Express for which he was nominated for an Oscar and won the British version.
I very much agree to you. I always thought that Contact is way better than Forrest Gump by at least 5 folds. I think it was just overshadowed by Titanic (in both Golden Globe/Academy Award and box office) when it was released and a low promotions from the studio. I hope they make more film like this. The feeling of awe, inspiration, and the thrill. The sweeping camera movements that make the film look like an epic film. Very good film.