The Mind Is A Universe, Or Two?
SOURCE CODE (2011)
Optimum Releasing
Original UK release: April 1st, 2011
Certificate: (UK): 12A
Running time: 93 minutes
Director: Duncan Jones
Writer: Ben Ripley
Cast:
Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan,
Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
Source Code is an evocative, poignant and not least entertaining examination of the mind-over-matter enigma. Though not comparable, Duncan Jones’ film may just spark off the kind of disputes and theories we saw popping up in the wake of The Matrix (1999). Preventing a heinous terror attack is not much more than the anchor of a story that reaches far beyond the actual plot, and is dealt with rather parenthetically.
Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up on a commuter train, not knowing how he got there and who the woman (Michelle Monaghan) on the 
opposite seat is. Her name is Christina, she calls him Sean and talks to him as if she knows him. Confused and perplexed, Stevens escapes to the men’s room – only to see the reflection of a stranger in the mirror.
But before he can do anything, the train blows up and Stevens finds himself (literally) inside a dark and tight room, apparently a military facility. There he learns he’s part of a top-secret government experiment, the Source Code, and that he is supposed to find the train’s bomber.
Quite soon the decorated soldier realises he doesn’t really have a choice but to go back in time and re-live the last 8 minutes in the life of his “host”, until he solves the case, thereby preventing an imminent large-scale attack on downtown Chicago.
At its core Source Code is a tale about time travel and parallel realities, but also a romance and an sometimes extremely fast-paced thriller that creates suspense in unique and inventive ways. The film makes the vegetating science fiction genre shine again — by not overdoing the science part and focusing on the fiction with its own nuts and bolts.
Eight minutes at a time, Stevens unravels the mystery of the task at hand, and his own. Gyllenhaal’s performance is somewhat like the grown-up version of Donnie Darko (2001) — inquisitive, doubting, not taking anything as it is or seems to be. His army boss, Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), is his determined, and rather maternal opposite who grows fond of the guinea pig in the high tech container. This may be one reason why Colter Stevens eventually doesn’t care much about the scientific possibilities and limits of the card he’s been dealt. He finds and follows his own mission, which also involves his father, and saving Christina.
Director Duncan Jones (Moon, 2009), writer Ben Ripley and not least Gyllenhaal created a character who is physically and emotionally displaced, and who can’t help it but wanting to change the past. The question is, however, if he can prevent the commuter train from exploding in the first place, what happens next?
Stevens’ 8-minute loops in a soon-to-be dead man’s body are beyond repetition. There are some markers like a popping Cola can, the same faces of course, and the facts of Stevens’ task. Apart from that, every loop develops its own story. The changes are more than just subtle, and each time they mean something else — to Stevens and to the plot. Source Code plays with nuances like knots in a thread that can lead anywhere, making the plot anything but predictable.
The film doesn’t really explain how all the time-bending stunts are possible. Sci-fi fans and people who are into time travel and consciousness certainly have the edge over the wider audience, as much of the film’s assumptions have actually been discussed in the scientific community for years. It seems very likely though the director didn’t waste too much time with the theoretical details which is good for the story but leaves the scientifically inclined not unsatisfied.
The most remarkable and quite ingenious moment in Source Code is its ultimate twist — not only a chilling revelation but also a blistering statement on the times we live in, equally disturbing and thought-provoking. In the end, the film has a message that may be prone to conflicting interpretations – but should definitely leave you wondering what life is all about.
In Our Name is a promising film debut by British director Brian Welsh dealing with the lingering psychological effects of war and readjusting into society.
Join the festive musical fun with Angela Lansbury (from Murder, She Wrote) starring as Santa’s wife who takes off on his sleigh but gets stranded in New York.
Steven Spielberg’s record-breaking 90’s classic, Jurassic Park, returns to the claim the big screen once again and its just as majestic as it was 18 years ago.
Based on the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston, 127 Hours is the true story of a man’s fight for survival against the elements of nature.
Director Tetsuya Nakashima takes us back to school with Confessions, a film about a teacher, Yuko Moriguchi (Takako Matsu), who has good reason to kill her students.
