With his first feature, the cult hit CUBE, director Vincenzo Natali, proved that it is possible to make compelling science fiction on a microscopic budget. With CYPHER, he shows he can do more than futuristic labyrinthine slaughter – he demonstrates total mastery of the sci-fi genre, and overwhelming competence as a director.

As the beautifully designed opening credits blend into the to the initial scenes of the Orwellian futureworld setting of CYPHER, you can tell that this is one slick and stylish film. The top-notch production design, cinematography, and seamless effects meld to create the unmistakable sci-fi film noir feel of a Phillip K. Dick novel.

Morgan Sullivan (Jeremy Northam) is a sheepish suburbanite, albeit with a twist. He’s being conditioned by mega-corporation Digicorp as a corporate spy to steal secrets from rival Sunways Systems. He goes on missions to nondescript corporate meetings in Omaha, Buffalo, Boise, recording seemingly innocuous, mind-numbing marketing and sales meetings. Soon he crosses paths with the sexy vixen Rita (Lucy Liu), whose temptations and narcotics throw his entire belief system into question. Before long he finds himself either re- or un-brainwashed into a double, triple, quadruple (I lost count) agent. This movie is the bizzaro-world cousin of Yojimbo (or A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS or LAST MAN STANDING). Instead of a confident samurai, gangster or gunslinger pitting each side against each other for his own gain, here Morgan is the one being manipulated. As he pinballs back and forth he is never quite sure of his true identity or loyalty, and only narrowly avoids death by temporarily trusting his latest puppet-masters. The script, by Brian King, manages to pay homage to Phillip K. Dick, Hitchcock, and a myriad of other influences while maintaining enough of its own originality to still feel fresh.

This is a mindfuck movie (two great syllables that go great together!), with more twists than an epileptic contortionist. In fact, this, the movie’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness – your mind gets fucked so many times that you feel mentally whored out. Every time you do the cranial gymnastics required to wrap your skull around the characters’ new circumstances, the rug is pulled out from underneath you. You almost want to disconnect mentally and wait for the payoff. But even if you do, the look of the movie alone will sustain you to the powerful conclusion.

I can’t say enough about the look of the movie, because I was astonished to find that the entire budget was only $7.5 million (US). It is designed and shot as well as MINORITY REPORT, at less than a tenth of the cost. Comparisons between the two movies are inevitable, as they both use cool hues and blown-out whites to throw you into an alien, yet convincing future world. Interestingly, the similar looks were achieved by two wholly different techniques. (Pardon me for a geek-out digression for a moment, I once took a class called “Physics of Photography” – I love this stuff). While MINORITY REPORT used a chemical process (bleach bypass), here the cinematographer (Derek Rodgers) used a digital intermediary – after he shot the movie he sent it to a local Toronto company called Toy Box. They digitally ripped the movie from the uncut negative, which allowed editing and color timing to be done digitally. This allowed them to maintain a cool-hued look, while punching up isolated reds, like flames and Lucy Liu’s red hair. The result is striking, and much more malleable than chemical methods.

While Lucy Liu is adequate, though maybe not perfectly convincing in her role as Rita, Jeremy Northam plays the lead perfectly. Here he has dropped his British accent, and is able to convincingly morph into each new persona required by the spying or brainwashing of his character. Even when he isn’t speaking, just the look in his eyes will give you fits trying to figure out the nature of Morgan Sullivan. Aside from the possibility of mindfuck-induced catatonia mentioned earlier, another downside to CYPHER it is that the characters are so chimeric that you never get to see them develop in any subtle sense. They only make sudden right angle turns. While the main character may end up in a different place than where he started, such sharp development can come across as gimmicky. Another slight fault is that you might see some of the turns coming, a minute or two before they happen. Fortunately there are so many that you are not likely to figure out what is going to happen more than a few minutes ahead.

Overall, the faults are trivial, and the overall movie is a superb foray into stylish sci-fi film noir that will keep you guessing. Catch it if you can.

Copernicus