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Review

Director Zemeckis' take on Carl Sagan's novel is easily one of the most thoughtful films to make its way out of Hollywood in the last several years and, depending on one's spiritual point of view, one of the most profound. Contact follows Foster on a mythic journey that would make even Joseph Campbell proud as Dr. Eleanor Arroway, an astrophysicist whose life's work involves searching infinitesimal radio bandwidths for signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence. Sagan's screenplay (he worked arduously on the filming until his death of cancer just prior to its completion) brilliantly intertwines Foster's endeavor with her almost desperate need for resolution around her father's death as she struggles with a sense of existential alienation and spiritual ambiguity. As directed by Zemeckis, the film is briskly paced (even at 150 minutes running time) and delivers its share of high-tech sci-fi wizardry which, combined with its lofty contemplations on life, the universe and everything, makes Contact a rare cinematic treat that tickles multiple pleasure zones.