Having wallowed in the Manchester music scene for 24 Hour Party People and charted the hazardous trek of two young Afghan immigrants across Europe in In This World, the prolific Michael Winterbottom turns to Shanghai as the principal location for Code 46, the third of four feature films he made in just under two years. (The fourth is the recent, controversial and sexually candid 9 Songs.)
A dystopian science-fiction tale, Code 46 is set "in the near future", where people speak a peculiar language like Esperanto, and the most vital possession is a papelle - a combination of passport, visa and travel insurance. Tim Robbins plays a surveillance agent investigating a papelle-forging scam with the aid of an empathy virus that enables him to read other people's minds. Samantha Morton is a young woman who is a prime suspect in the case.
An intriguing premise is gradually squandered in the convoluted screenplay by Winterbottom's regular screenwriter, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, and there is zero screen chemistry between Robbins and Morton. The striking visual style, sound design and a dreamy score from David Holmes and the Free Association help compensate for a film that ultimately falls short of Winterbottom's high standards.
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