Last week the BBC asked me to go along to a press screening of the film Splice to give my opinions on the science. It was great fun to be sitting amongst all the other journalists in the small Soho theatre; I could even make out the distinctive quiff of horror film critic Mark Kermode down in the front row, silhouetted against the screen. Meanwhile, the NPG journalist Adam Rutherford offered around sweets (politely refused in most cases), and my BBC companion and I exchanged snide comments throughout the film.
You can read my thoughts in today’s piece, but the executive summary is that the film was so bad it was almost good – Frankenstein with Oedipal issues. I’ll also add that it’s seldom a brilliant sign when an audience keeps laughing at things that are quite clearly not intended to be funny.
I was billed as a “DNA expert” on the front page of the BBC News this morning, which earned me a lot of ribbing from my colleagues:
After seeing the film, I was surprised to read in the press pack that its director, Vincenzo Natali, thought his film was not about hubristic scientists playing god and meddling with things that man was not meant to know – that he did not, in fact, actually intend to make a cautionary statement about the dangers of unrestrained biotechnology. As this was indeed the overriding message coming through, I can only assume that Natali lost control of his own creation.
Sounds very Crichtonesque. I’ll have to check it out on DVD later.
I don’t think it’s got the humor or humanity of a Crichton book/film, but it’s definitely slick.
I’d like someone to explain to me why the scientists were doing what they were doing. We are told that the team are trying to design helpful new proteins for medicine, but why mix random bits of DNA to achieve this instead of designing something sensible? Or – if you thought the random element might bring unexpected medical benefits, why not do it all in test tubes instead of playing trial and error with weird creatures? As it was, once they find an interesting protein were are told they then have to spend years isolating it to work out what sequences encode them. This part of the “science” made no sense at all. But I might have missed something.
I enjoyed your “write up” on the beeb, Jenny. If you thought that film was bad (therefore, good), wait until you’ve seen The Human Centipede.
Coincidentally, the same BBC guy asked me if I wanted to go along to that screening as well, which was a few days later. After hearing a synopsis, I declined – on the basis that I have a very weak stomach, and the premise sounded revolting!
Definitely not for the faint hearted. Nor, possibly, for anyone at all. I love a good (or bad) horror flick, but I don’t think the Centipede falls into either category.
I’m going to be back in the UK for a couple of weeks from tomorrow, so I’ll be trying to fit in as many (decent) non-subtitled films as possible!
Apparently Inception is good!
as many (decent) non-subtitled films
The indecent subtitled ones can be interesting too.
Tie that topic into science and you’ll win a prize.
Hmm. Porn in the lab. I knew something was going on in the darkroom.
It does make you wonder if there is a business opportunity in the “niche DVD market” for all those post-docs who can’t get jobs…
Well, something similar worked for Belle de Jour.
I love the “so bad it’s good” genre, especially the creature features. This film sounds a wee bit like Evolution, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Next on my list of ‘lame “so bad it’s good” creature features to watch when I’m home alone’ is Mega Shark versus Giant Octopus. From what I’ve heard, there’s only a 0.02% possibility that I will not enjoy this movie.
Cath, I hope you will share your enjoyment algorithm with us.
I’m not a massive fan of B-movies – I always crave decent dialogue and characterization, which is hard to find anywhere these days. The latter two weren’t bad in Splice, though – the lead guy won an Oscar for The Pianist, so he obviously knows what he’s going, but some of the lines they made him recite were cringeworthy, as in “We crossed a line between Right and Wrong!”
Although to be fair, they also gave him this awesome comment (when his labmate says they should make the hybrid monster in secret):
“What’s the point if we can’t publish it?” I think I was the only one in the audience who laughed.
When I deleted the spam comment above, Åsa Karlström’s comment vanished. It’s still there, on the sidebar, and in the MT4 list, but isn’t rendering here on the page for me. Just in case others can’t see it either, here’s what she wrote:
Jenny: Rohn Pipette tips. Multicolored ones, perhaps? I’d love that. yey! .. now… all I need to do it convince the powers that pay that it is a great plan. (I remember trying to order multicoloured small tubes at an old department and gtting so shut down… hmmm…. ) 🙂
Asa, we have multicolored tubes and whenever I do a row of reactions I always compulsively line them up in rainbow order.
“We crossed a line between Right and Wrong!”
I honestly burst out laughing aloud reading that. I imagine that’s not the response they were aiming for…
I think I was the only one in the audience who laughed.
This gives me an excuse to bore you with on of my stories 🙂
One in my student days in Cambridge I and an Australian went to the see A Fish Called Wanda. When Cleese started his rant about hating being British, the entire theatre went very quiet — except for me and my friend who were in stitches laughing. It was a weird feeling, laughing, not being able to stop and at the same time realising we seemed to be the only ones laughing in the midst of hushed silence.
re: Jenny Rohn pipettes, you need to get on one of the those investor-pitching TV programmes like Dragon’s Den and use your communication skills to whip up a load of cash…
Oh, rats. Messed up a close italics tag after ‘Wanda’. Usually I don’t bother previewing as I trust my HTML coding & typing. Sigh
MT6 will fix that, Grant.
“What’s the point if we can’t publish it?”
That line alone almost makes me want to see the movie.
Almost
Anyone in London who enjoys so-bad-they’re-good films should get along to the Bad Film Club at the Barbican. I saw Airport 79, in which the concorde pulls some seriously bad aerial acrobatics to avoid missiles. The host give a comedy commentary over the top.
Matt, this is the first thing I’ve ever heard that really and truly makes me wish I lived in London 🙂
Jenny> I don’t think I can put them in the correct order blushe . I mainly wanted various colours for things in the -80 freezer; bacteria, virus, plasmid etc… 🙂
Anyway, I’ve been curious about Splice and your review makes me want to go and see it. It seems to fall within the spectra of “not all annoying, there are some high lights in there”. And it must be a fun feeling being on the front page like that!
Cath> I’m favouring Inception over tha Fight between Giant Octopus and Squid movie… although it does sound a bit like that Alien vs Predator the first time around…
Grant, I invested 5 minutes of my life dealing with MT4 and fixed your italics thingie. Isn’t it annoying we can’t edit our own comments? And isn’t it even more annoying that we have to use html at all?
Anyway, another awesome line in the film is when Oscar-winning guy confronts female colleague who’s getting a wee bit too close to their creation, and shouts, “When did you stop being a scientist?”
We’ve all been there, haven’t we?
Jennifer,
I’m embarrassed anyone would spend 5 minutes of their life for me, but thanks for the effort. Sounds like the system is hopeless if it takes that long to correct one tag!
I personally don’t mind writing HTML, but then I’ve coded in the stuff for years.
It is a shame that editors aren’t provided for commenters. Our WordPress MU site gives us writers and moderators editors (we can edit comments with them too). Technically I’d have thought it straight-forward to provide the existing editor to the users, although I can guess some reasons why it’s not offered (not saying I agree).
PS: Isn’t the previous comment spam?
I guess in some circles it’s considered bad form to be able to edit one’s one comments because it could lead to people backtracking on arguments (once someone lower down had pointed out an error of logic or something wrong) and then the whole thing could degenerate to chaos. I’ve seen some platforms that let you edit your post within 5 minutes – that way if you were too lazy to preview but had made a mistake, you could quickly correct it.
Yes, it was spam, and I had to wait until I had another 5 minutes to spare to deal with it. I must say I was impressed by the spammer’s efforts to try to say something on-message. 😉
Ah, that wasn’t quite what I meant by editing! I was meaning that it’s a shame that the visual editor available to bloggers on WordPress MU to write their articles aren’t available to commenters — that way commenters wouldn’t have to type in HTML. I was referring to having to type in HTML, rather than the issue of editing an error after the comment had been submitted. Not exactly clear of me…
On the other editing issue, about editing comments after they’ve been submitted, it’s complex thing, eh? There are cases when it’d be good for someone to edit their comment, for example when on re-reading it, they realise others would read meanings they don’t want into to it. The twenty minute thing is useful that way. People will keep saying to ‘proof’ before you send, but part of the reality to my mind is that it’s hard to proof something you’ve only just written as you still have what you intended to say fresh in your head, as opposed to how it reads to others.
I never thought I’d miss the old NN language, but I do.
My objection to writing in html isn’t a tech-phobia or anything. It’s mostly because I have RSI and I find that html involves lots of selecting, copying and pasting swathes of text into single insertion points – something I find particularly painful. These days I often decide not to link to things just because it’s not worth the trouble. At least before all you had to do was bung quotes around something, or exclamation points, and it was pretty easy.
Hey I am sure some how if you tie the topic can win you a price. By the way, some one talk about Mega Shark movie in one of the comments, I bet any one that is probable the most “stupid” movie ever made – therefore you were better off in the lab. thanks for sharing your experience. – lanyards
I still want to see the film. Sad, because it will be here in Chile maybe in two years.
At least press has a DNA expert, though.
..i have an inter school competition-Funtakshari…….it is all about antakshari and movies….can anyone tell me more and more information about movies ans songs like…director of movie,choreographer,music director,singer etc.
Paraslim Force