DramaScience FictionMystery

Contact

- Take a journey to the heart of the universe.

A radio astronomer receives the first extraterrestrial radio signal ever picked up on Earth. As the world powers scramble to decipher the message and decide upon a course of action, she must make some difficult decisions between her beliefs, the truth, and reality.

Release Date : 1997-07-11

Language :RussianSpanishEnglish

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : South Side Amusement CompanyWarner Bros. Pictures

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Ellie Arroway

Original Name : Jodie Foster

Gender : Female

Character Name : Palmer Joss

Original Name : Matthew McConaughey

Gender : Male

Character Name : Michael Kitz

Original Name : James Woods

Gender : Male

Character Name : S. R. Hadden

Original Name : John Hurt

Gender : Male

Character Name : David Drumlin

Original Name : Tom Skerritt

Gender : Male

Character Name : Kent

Original Name : William Fichtner

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ted Arroway

Original Name : David Morse

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rachel Constantine

Original Name : Angela Bassett

Gender : Female

Character Name : Fisher

Original Name : Geoffrey Blake

Gender : Male

Character Name : Willie

Original Name : Max Martini

Gender : Male

Character Name : Richard Rank

Original Name : Rob Lowe

Gender : Male

Character Name : Joseph

Original Name : Jake Busey

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mission Director

Original Name : Tucker Smallwood

Gender : Male

Character Name : Young Ellie

Original Name : Jena Malone

Gender : Female

Character Name : Vernon

Original Name : Sami Chester

Gender : Male

Character Name : Davio

Original Name : Timothy McNeil

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cantina Woman

Original Name : Laura Elena Surillo

Gender : Female

Character Name : Minister

Original Name : Henry Strozier

Gender : Male

Character Name : Larry King

Original Name : Larry King

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ian Broderick

Original Name : Thomas Garner

Gender : Male

Character Name : KOB-TV Reporter

Original Name : Conroy Chino

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jeremy Roth

Original Name : Dan Gifford

Gender : Male

Character Name : Senator Valencia

Original Name : Vance Valencia

Gender : Male

Character Name : Donna Kelley

Original Name : Donna Kelley

Gender : Female

Character Name : Leon Harris

Original Name : Leon Harris

Gender : Male

Character Name : Claire Shipman

Original Name : Claire Shipman

Gender : Female

Character Name : Middle Eastern Anchor

Original Name : Behrooz Afrakhan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Japanese Anchor

Original Name : Saemi Nakamura

Gender : Female

Character Name : Latina Anchor

Original Name : Maria Celeste Arraras

Gender : Female

Character Name : Tabitha Soren

Original Name : Tabitha Soren

Gender : Female

Character Name : Geraldo Rivera

Original Name : Geraldo Rivera

Gender : Male

Character Name : British Anchor

Original Name : Ian Whitcomb

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jay Leno

Original Name : Jay Leno

Gender : Male

Character Name : Natalie Allen

Original Name : Natalie Allen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Robert D. Novak

Original Name : Robert D. Novak

Gender : Male

Character Name : Geraldine A. Ferraro

Original Name : Geraldine A. Ferraro

Gender : Female

Character Name : Ann Druyan

Original Name : Ann Druyan

Gender : Female

Character Name : Kathleen Kennedy

Original Name : Kathleen Kennedy

Gender : Female

Character Name : Decryption Hacker

Original Name : Michael Albala

Gender : Male

Character Name : Decryption Expert

Original Name : Ned Netterville

Gender : Male

Character Name : Major Domo

Original Name : Leo Lee

Gender : Male

Character Name : Chairman of Joint Chiefs

Original Name : William Jordan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Joint Chief

Original Name : David St. James

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jill Dougherty

Original Name : Jill Dougherty

Gender : Female

Character Name : Drumlin Aide

Original Name : Haynes Brooke

Gender : Male

Character Name : John Holliman

Original Name : John Holliman

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bobbie Battista

Original Name : Bobbie Battista

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dee Dee Myers

Original Name : Dee Dee Myers

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bryant Gumbel

Original Name : Bryant Gumbel

Gender : Male

Character Name : Linden Soles

Original Name : Linden Soles

Gender : Male

Character Name : Major Russell

Original Name : Steven Ford

Gender : Male

Character Name : Major Russell's Son

Original Name : Alexander Zemeckis

Gender : Male

Character Name : Major Russell's Daughter

Original Name : Janie Peterson

Gender : Female

Character Name : French Committee Member

Original Name : Philippe Bergeron

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dr. Patel

Original Name : Jennifer Balgobin

Gender : Female

Character Name : British Committee Member

Original Name : Anthony Hamilton

Gender : Male

Character Name : NASA Public Relations

Original Name : Rebecca T. Beucler

Gender : Female

Character Name : NASA Technician

Original Name : Marc Macaulay

Gender : Male

Character Name : Voice of NASA (voice)

Original Name : Pamela Wilsey

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mechanical

Original Name : Jeffery Thomas Johnson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Electrical

Original Name : Yuji Okumoto

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dynamics

Original Name : Gerry Griffin

Gender : Male

Character Name : Communications

Original Name : Brian Alston

Gender : Male

Character Name : Pad Leader

Original Name : Rob Elk

Gender : Male

Character Name : Security

Original Name : Mark Thomason

Gender : Male

Character Name : Controller #8

Original Name : José Rey

Gender : Male

Character Name : New VLA Technician

Original Name : Todd Patrick Breaugh

Gender : Male

Character Name : Russian Cosmonaut

Original Name : Alex Veadov

Gender : Male

Character Name : Scientist

Original Name : Alice Kushida

Gender : Female

Character Name : Project Official

Original Name : Robin Gammell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mission Doctor

Original Name : Richardson Morse

Gender : Male

Character Name : Japanese Ensign

Original Name : Seiji Okamura

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bernard Shaw

Original Name : Bernard Shaw

Gender : Male

Character Name : Japanese Tech #1

Original Name : Mak Takano

Gender : Male

Character Name : Japanese Tech #2

Original Name : Hiroshi Tom Tanaka

Gender : Male

Character Name : Life Support

Original Name : Catherine Dao

Gender : Female

Character Name : Dynamics #2

Original Name : Kristoffer Ryan Winters

Gender : Male

Character Name : Woman Senator

Original Name : Valorie Armstrong

Gender : Female

Character Name : Reporter #5

Original Name : Jim Hild

Gender : Male

Character Name : Reporter #6

Original Name : William L. Thomas

Gender : Male

Character Name : School Boy

Original Name : Diego Montoya

Gender : Male

Character Name : White House Official (uncredited)

Original Name : Jonathan Adler

Gender : Male

Character Name : NASA Controller #2 (uncredited)

Original Name : Robert Aguilar Jr.

Gender : Male

Character Name : Four-Star General (uncredited)

Original Name : Mark Bailey

Gender : Male

Character Name : Senate Observer (uncredited)

Original Name : Matt Bennett

Gender : Male

Character Name : Robert Hand (uncredited)

Original Name : Tony Boldi

Gender : Male

Character Name : Scientist (uncredited)

Original Name : Christopher Boyer

Gender : Male

Character Name : White House Official (uncredited)

Original Name : Christine Brady

Gender : Male

Character Name : Press Reporter (uncredited)

Original Name : Ray Buffer

Gender : Male

Character Name : Protester (uncredited)

Original Name : Mark Byrne

Gender : Male

Character Name : Supporter (uncredited)

Original Name : Candice T. Cain

Gender : Female

Character Name : Hadden Suit (uncredited)

Original Name : Michael Chaban

Gender : Male

Character Name : President's Secretary (uncredited)

Original Name : Aixa Clemente

Gender : Female

Character Name : Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Original Name : Bill Clinton

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ailing Believer (uncredited)

Original Name : Derrick Damions

Gender : Male

Character Name : Philanthropy Bureaucrat (uncredited)

Original Name : Elaina Erika Davis

Gender : Female

Character Name : Factory Worker (uncredited)

Original Name : Joey Dente

Gender : Male

Character Name : IMC Police Officer (uncredited)

Original Name : Michael Egan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Monk (uncredited)

Original Name : Jeff Elmore

Gender : Male

Character Name : Pedestrian (uncredited)

Original Name : Pamela Fischer

Gender : Male

Character Name : Controller (uncredited)

Original Name : Carl Gilliard

Gender : Male

Character Name : TV Interviewer (uncredited)

Original Name : William B. Kaplan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Astronaut (uncredited)

Original Name : Boris Lee Krutonog

Gender : Male

Character Name : Pod Systems Control (uncredited)

Original Name : Ming Lo

Gender : Male

Character Name : Puerto Rican Taxi Driver (uncredited)

Original Name : Sunshine Logroño

Gender : Male

Character Name : Press Secretary (uncredited)

Original Name : Denise Loveday

Gender : Female

Character Name : Kitz's Aide (uncredited)

Original Name : Neal Matarazzo

Gender : Male

Character Name : Reporter (uncredited)

Original Name : Bill Miller

Gender : Male

Character Name : Family Exchange (uncredited)

Original Name : Molly Mueller

Gender : Female

Character Name : Ellie's Attorney (uncredited)

Original Name : Paul L. Nolan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Oval Office Secretary (uncredited)

Original Name : Marisa Petroro

Gender : Female

Character Name : Police Officer (uncredited)

Original Name : Errica Poindexter

Gender : Female

Character Name : Senator (uncredited)

Original Name : J.A. Preston

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ailing Believer (uncredited)

Original Name : Frank Principe

Gender : Male

Character Name : Security Guard (uncredited)

Original Name : Billy Quinn

Gender : Male

Character Name : Senate Hearing (uncredited)

Original Name : Thomas Reid

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ailing Believer (uncredited)

Original Name : Leo Rogstad

Gender : Male

Character Name : Photographer (uncredited)

Original Name : Russell Sanderlin Sr.

Gender : Male

Character Name : Army Officer (uncredited)

Original Name : Frank Silva

Gender : Male

Character Name : Senate Hearing Attendee (uncredited)

Original Name : John A. Taylor

Gender : Male

Character Name : News Reporter (uncredited)

Original Name : Todd Thompson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Reporter (uncredited)

Original Name : Cenk Uygur

Gender : Male

Character Name : Religious Zealot (uncredited)

Original Name : Holly Cross Vagley

Gender : Female

Character Name : Protester (uncredited)

Original Name : Eric Alan Wendell

Gender : Male

Character Name : Believer #1 (uncredited)

Original Name : Delaney Williams

Gender : Male

Character Name : Extra (uncredited)

Original Name : Gregory L. Williams

Gender : Male

Reviews

talisencrw

@talisencrw

2021-06-23

I would readily admit this is one of my favourite science fiction films from the 90's. It's intelligent, well-acted and directed, and the special effects it has HELPS the story rather than IMPEDES it. Though she hasn't done much lately, either in the director's chair or acting, Jodie Foster is one of my favourite contemporary American actresses, and it's intriguing how her great talent's been utilized of late (ie., 'Elysium', and I'm still very mad at Spike Lee for having Christopher Plummer call her a 'cunt' in 'Inside Man'). Personally, I must admit that I myself have worried what other worlds' inhabitants would think of our civilization from the messages it might get from Earth. Though I thankfully haven't lost any sleep over it (I have 'Thumper' in the apartment above me to thank for that), as Led Zeppelin would say in the classic 'Stairway to Heaven', '...and it makes me wonder'. As what happens in most of these movies, it's rather anticlimactic once the different cultures meet. I'll say to my dying day that the most difficult thing to do in cinema is end a film. Here (unlike perfect sci-fi masterpieces, like '2001: A Space odyssey' or the more recent 'Children of Men') the decent but otherwise unspectacular ending makes me avoid a perfect rating here. But it's awfully close, worth both owning and rewatching, and provides fairly early evidence (which would come to bold fruition in 'Killer Joe') that Matthew McConaughey could actually act. It's also a tossup between this, 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' and 'Back to the Future' for my favourite Zemeckis moment.

JPV852

@JPV852

2021-11-26

Random viewing but decided to finally watch after its been in my to-do bin for a while now. It didn't strike an emotional cord that I thought it would but Jodie Foster was quite good as were a respectable supporting cast. Never quite bought into the relationship between Foster and McConaughey though in fairness, probably due to the lack of screen time together (felt like maybe 15 minutes in a 2.5 hour movie). Some of the effects were alright for its time including integrating Clinton footage with the cast and the sci-fi specific visuals were alright. In the end, never was bored and found it to be entertaining. **4.0/5**

tmdb28039023

@tmdb28039023

2022-09-03

Early on in Contact a character is introduced who goes by the name “Kent Clark,” and for the remainder of the film I simply could not get over the fact that no one ever even mentions that he is named after Bizarro’s alter ego. My theory is that this is a figurative wink to the audience, letting us know beforehand what we otherwise discover at long last: that the events that are about to unfold are nothing but an elaborate prank on the audience and, possibly, the cast. This movie exists in a limbo somewhere in between Close Encounters of the Third Kind’s unabashed childlike wonder and Ad Astra’s adult ‘we’re alone in the Universe’ pragmatism – which is a polite way of saying that Contact is neither fish nor fowl; the moral of the story, in a nutshell, is that there might be intelligent extraterrestrial life, but then again, there might not be. Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with some ambiguity, but let’s consider this: untold amounts of money, physical resources and manpower are spent in the movie (but not by the movie, which prefers to cut corners and follow the unconvincing route of CGI – technology which, by the way, has not aged well nor improved a lot ever since), while we spent two and half hours of our precious time, and it’s all only to learn that, maybe, aliens don’t exist except in overly complicated hoaxes and the minds of impressionable people. That’s a lot of work to do as well as a long way to go to arrive at a conclusion that for many, myself included, is of the foregone variety. And even if the extraterrestrials in the film were real, they’d still be rather disappointing – though I shouldn’t speak in plural, since we only see one in the form of Dr. Ellie Arroway’s (Jodie Foster) long deceased father. The good news is that Ellie’s dad is played by David Morse, and you could certainly do a lot worse than that (and that goes for the rest of the ensemble cast); the bad news is that Ellie’s close encounter takes places on a beach that is supposedly meant to mimic a drawing she made when she was nine years old. This is bad because the drawing, which looks like an actual preteen might have drawn it, is a veritable Monet compared with the computer-generated beach where Ellie has a very anticlimactic meeting with the alien, who tells her nothing she, or for that matter we, didn’t already know or believe – which in turn doesn’t mean that the place itself has to be equally underwhelming; why not a real beach? Or, perhaps even better, a set made to resemble a real beach? This would doubtless speak to either Ellie’s imagination or the aliens’ handicraft much more than what we end up getting.

Filipe Manuel Neto

@FilipeManuelNeto

2023-12-26

**A film that gets more right than it gets wrong, in a friendly tribute to Carl Sagan.** The theme of extraterrestrial life will always be a big deal for cinema, and is one of the most solid subjects within sci-fi. On the one hand, it has already given us a series of gems, but it also occasionally gives us films so bad that they are not worth the price of the plastic DVD. This film, for me, stays on positive ground: it gives us a solid story, intelligent enough to be believable, but it completely loses its way when it tries to introduce some action and shake things up a bit. One of the most positive aspects of this film is the credible and understandable way in which it talks about complex scientific subjects and concepts. There are high doses of science and if we take into account that Carl Sagan was one of the consultants who worked here (he died in the middle of filming and the film is dedicated to his memory), we can easily understand why it seems so solid. This is what happens when you listen to competent people, who know and who truly study. On a technical level, the film is reasonably within the standards of a sci-fi film from the late 90s with an already generous budget. However, despite some innovations such as the green screen and CGI effects, which were beginning to be implemented in the industry, not everything is really effective. Despite some high quality effects, the cinematography doesn't keep up, being excessively bland and uninteresting. I liked the focus on radio telescopes (we are more used to seeing optical telescopes, but listening to space is equally important) and it is incredible to see Arecibo again, one of the most cinematic and which very recently ceased to exist (which I greatly regret, by the way). Jodie Foster is a highly competent actress who deserves to be congratulated for all her effort. She is charismatic and strong enough to guarantee the leading role and the quality of her work only decreases towards the end, when she had to interact with the green screen, something that was not usual for actors at this time. We can still see the quite satisfactory work of actors such as John Hurt, David Morse, Tom Skerritt or James Woods. None of them have material capable of giving them substantial time or impact, but they all did the most they could with what they were given. Despite the relevance given, probably justified by the wage received, it was sad to see Matthew McConaughey in such a dull work, devoid of any substantial value. It seems that he was just making his money and wasn't interested in the project. The script has clearly positive points and others that, honestly, should have been eliminated. On the one hand, the scientific discussion and the theme of sending data through signals that can be captured by sound is highly relevant and looks good. I also liked seeing the difficulties that the main character experiences in obtaining financial and practical support for her research and overcoming the prejudices and lack of interest of her patrons. This is a picture of how much scientific research is currently going. From a certain point onwards, the film seeks to involve the Government and NASA, and things move towards a kind of bloated and histrionic action that is at odds with what had been done before. That was a mistake, but director Robert Zemeckis doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes, since it's not the first time it's happened in his films. Another error was the religious debate over alien life. This film did not call for this, the topic is left and should have been cut outright.