"Contact"
Rated: PG
Starring: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaghey, Tom Skerritt, Angela Bassett,
James Woods, David Morse, Jena Malone & John Hurt
Written By: Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, James V. Hart and Michael Goldenberg
Directed: Robert Zemeckis
This was an incredible movie, truly an experience to be relished. From the
remarkable opening sequence to the last moment I was entirely caught up in
the storyline. I am amazed that there was not more of a buzz about this
movie last year during its cinema release. It pains me that I didn't get
to see it on the big screen!
We are introduced to the main character, Ellie Arroway, when she is still a child
played with right amount of precociousness by Jena Malone. Ellie is being
raised by her father, her mother is dead. He is teaching her the wonders
of the night sky and the joys of reaching out to others with amateur radio.
Then
we meet Ellie many years later when she is carrying out research for SETI
(Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence) at a large radio telescope in
Puerto Rico. Her life's work has become the search for life out there, or
"little green men", as is joked about several times during the movie. Her
resolve to obtain this goal and make one of the most significant discoveries
in our history eventually results in her doing just that. Then the plot takes
off and heads towards Dr. Arroway's "contact" with the source of the signal
she discovers.
Jodie Foster's performance is amazing and you will be right there with
her through every moment of frustration, joy, wonder and awe. The
viewer experiences every thought and emotion that the character feels
during her journey. It would be great to see more roles like this available
for women in films. It is still too rare an occasion to have such a strong,
intelligent female lead especially in a big budget movie.
This is also a refreshing change after the
recent rash of movies with aliens as the "baddies" out to suck the
Earth dry and leave her and her inhabitants for dead. Contact
is more like "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" with a positive
and inspiring take on our first meeting with extraterrestrials.
All the ingredients are here for a great movie and they blend together
wonderfully taking the viewer on a roller coaster ride without having
to check in your brain at the door. The acting is wonderful, the script
is well written, the effects are great but don't overshadow everything
else in the movie and there many ideas and questions presented for
the viewer to ponder on long after the end titles have finished
and the lights go back up.
Mary Jo Stockton (8/19/98)
mj@moonstar.com
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