S1m0ne

Plot synopsis:
When the main star of disillusioned director Viktor Taransky's new movie walks away, Taransky is forced to find a replacement or never work again. Unfortunately for him, nobody wants to work with him any more.Viktor tries a new computer program on a hard disk he inherited from his acquaintance Hank Aleno. Viktor uses the program as a last, desperate attempt to finish the film. The system allows him to use a computer-generated woman to play the movie's central character. Viktor names his synthetic actress "Simone", a name derived from the computer program's title, Simulation One. Seamlessly incorporated into the movie, Simone gives a fantastic performance. The studio, and soon the world, starts to ask "who is Simone?"The movie is a great success, and Viktor markets her as a real person. He gives phone and camera interviews, but it becomes difficult to maintain. Two people doggedly pursue him and force him to showcase Simone "live" after they discover that he used stock photography as a background during the interview instead of being on that site as he claimed she was. Simone ascends to even greater heights, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress.After a while, Viktor decides to kill her. He has her star in a film of her own about zoophilia, hoping to disgust audiences. However, they continue to love her work. He then uses a computer virus to erase the program and dumps all of the DVDs and computer-related information into a trunk and throws it out to sea. During the funeral, the police come, open the coffin where there is only Simone's poster. He is taken to the police station and is shown a security camera video where he is seen putting the trunk into the motorboat. He is arrested for her murder. In his defense he admits that Simone was just a computer program, and that he put all the program discs in the chest and dropped it into the sea. Viktor's wife and daughter enter his studio, find the program, and realize that Viktor's actress is only a simulation (he forgot a virus floppy disk in the computer). They revive Simone and he is freed from custody. The film ends with Simone and Viktor holding an interview about their new "baby" before a post-credits sequence shows Viktor creating fake footage of Simone in a supermarket, which one of her pursuers sees, believing it real.

Tags: satire, murder

Review:
SIMONE written and directed by Andrew McNichol who also wrote THE TRUMAN SHOW, which in the opinion of this writer was one of the best films of 1998, opened this week starring incomparable Al Pacino.THE TRUMAN SHOW was a brilliant send up of television and those of us who will watch whatever is on.
Even her name is an abbreviation for the computer program that has made her possible: Simulation One.When Hollywood diva Wynona Ryder walks off director Viktor Taransky's (Pacino) film unfinished for nothing but silly reasons, his career is finally in the dumpster.
The cult of celebrity is brilliantly examined in Andrew Niccol's `Simone.' Al Pacino plays a washed-up `art film' director who is fed up with the spoiled leading ladies with whom he has to work.
After his latest leading lady (Winona Ryder in an excellent performance) walks out before the end of production, Pacino is left with an unreleasable film.
Niccol  sustains his sharp satire of celebrity until the very end of the movie.Where `Simone' stumbles is its flat romance between Pacino and his former wife, Christine Keener.
The many scenes of Viktor covering up Simone not being real, creating the illusion of her in various forms to satisfy other people's urge to see her, meet her, talk to her may be somewhat slapstick in their nature, but they only emphasize how ludicrous and easily bought the everyday man is.
I must say that the trailers do not do this film justice; it is a very intelligent satire that provides commentary on many things including Hollywood as an industry, the audience as a questionable (flawed) jury, the personal conflicts of greed and guilt, and what it means to "be in control" - all within the context of a very effective comedy.
While the days of discovering the next screen legend in ice cream parlours may be over, they may soon be created over a banana split...For Viktor Taransky bad things do indeed come in threes, in his case, movies:  a former Oscar nominated director, his last three films have been box office dogs.
Distraught and demoralized, Viktor's salvation appears in the guise a seemingly deranged genius who offers him the ultimate software for the director who can't find a star - who says you can't make em like you used to?For those accustomed to Al Pacino's typical cast of characters -serious, dark and brooding, with an intensity level that never drops below 10, Viktor Taranksy is a refreshing change.
The supporting cast is a mixed blessing.Catherine Keener, who plays Elaine, Viktor's ex-wife (her second role as a Hollywood executive in as many months), has suprisingly little presence in the film - her dialogue is light and her character is relatively inconsequential.
Several films have already employed synthespians to perform difficult stunts and last year's Final Fantasy showed how far the technology had come (bankrupting a movie company in the process).
S1m0ne (SIMONE) is a creative little piece of filmmaking from the young New Zealand writer director Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, The Truman Show, Lord of War, The Host, Dali & I:The Surreal Story).
Has-been movie director/producer Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino, shining) faces disaster when his star Nicola Anders (Winona Ryder) deserts his latest desperate need for a hit film and comes up with the alternative - create a superstar by using a digital synthespian, a creature who via computer codes is destined to do anything the creator decides.
This wasn't a bad comedy starring a famous actor who is known more for his dramatic roles: Al Pacino.For a one-joke storyline, I thought the film was pretty good, and certainly better than the critics would have you believe.
The story moved well, only getting a little preposterous in the final 15-25 minutes, although the whole film is a tongue-and-cheek look at Hollywood fame.It's a nice-looking DVD and Rachel Roberts falls in that category, too, as the beautiful computer-generated new movie star who isn't what people think.
S1m0ne is about a down-on-his-luck film director, Viktor Taranski (played by Al Pacino) whose career sinks into a slump when his spoiled lead actress Nicola Anders (played brilliantly by Winona Ryder) walks off the set and leaves Viktor with an unfinished film and his loss of self-respect.
However, when computer genius Hank shows up, he presents Viktor with a computer program, before he dies of a tumor, that will change his life forever: It's called Simulation One. Just a few strokes on the key board and an overnight sensation is born: S1m0ne.The movie was bashed both critically and financially, but I don't know why.
Ultimately, he tries to crash her career and reputation, but the world loves her even more.On a personal note, I like this film mainly because of Al Pacino and the comical cosmic feeling you get from a science-fiction movie.
The computer effects - where they show Pacino 'editing' Simone - are laughable too - they bely a director who has never used a computer and makes no attempt to make any part of this film even vaguely conceivable.The plot is dire, the dialogue is coma-inducing, and the twist is so predictable as to surprise only the very feeblest of minds.
The ending is probably the worst and most ridiculous ending I've ever seen in a movie.Al Pacino, as usual, is great and this role of Viktor Taransky is one of his best roles.
If you've come to this page to decide whether to watch simone or not let me save you some time and tell you: save your money, go watch something else at the cinema.This movie must be one of the worst that Al Pacino has acted in.
I mean no one (except people who've never used computers or are from a very old generation) would believe that a film director could simply rustle-up the "perfect" actor by simply hitting a few keys on a PC.....maybe a supercomputer but a PC?
S1m0ne is not an exception, that just when everyone thought the story will go in the logically-favored direction, it turned to be better.You need a good director to master someone like Al Pacino, and that means certainly not averagely-good, but really good.
Besides, S1m0ne really made What Just Happened looked like amateurish work.Al last, as the movie's rating kept dropping for years, the ideas in it actually are approaching us.
Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino) is a decadent filmmaker, who has just lost the star of his last movie before its end.
This movie was not a lot fun to watch, for two reasons.Al Pacino plays a director who uses a CGI actress in his film.
And it while I was watching this movie andPacino was getting deeper and deeper in trouble, I was just thinking "just come clean already, you wimp"...Second, one of the most important things in comedy is timing.
the whole movie, and particularly simone's success, is incredibly exaggerated, without the slightest nod to believability.but even worse: the underlying theme that drives the film is that people are inferior life forms, incapable of thought and devoid of intellect, who automatically lap up everything thrown at them, no matter how slapdash, like a bunch of pavlovian dogs.
The film pokes good natured fun at Hollywood and the media, and also makes some good points about the manner in which some stars become almost gods, worshipped by millions of fans, and how people are inclined to make very favorable assumptions about those who they adore.
Considering how much technology has advanced and that there already have been several instances of fake "actors" used in movies (like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator: Salvation), who knows when this actually might become a reality?The funny thing is that even with his new star, Taransky doesn't seem to accomplish what he wishes for: that people recognize the MEANING of his work, not just the face of them.
Everyday we watch more stories about how technology involve our life in a way that we do not care about anything else, this paranoiac topic gets the interest of many viewers, and more and more writers exploit this matters, the movie also shows the obsession that not only people but also paparazzi has on the life of an artist.I watched this movie and I love it, my tendency on science fiction usually gives the movies three star at least, I usually choose the movies I am going to see for its cast and director, so when I watched it, I didn't know what could I expect.
But even thought I have a glade surprise.This movie has Al Pacino as one its main stars, he is one of the best actors on screen and I admire how he catches people attention with his monologue that defines him, and I think the unknown actress Rachel Roberts was perfect to create the illusion of her inexistence, furthermore Winona Ryder an actress that rarely get it right however accomplish well this task.
We see them in the check-out line at the grocery store, we see them when we walk in the door to our homes and turn on the TV, and thus, we feel comfortable commenting and unleashing our opinions about the way they live their lives.The point of the film, and what makes it actually brilliant, is that the director is saying, yes, it may be ridiculous for her to receive the honours she did and be nominated twice for best actress in the same year (which would never happen), but would we really care if it did?
This is a really fine & entertaining movie that makes fun of Hollywood so pointedly that I doubt that Niccol can get financing from inside the industry town.The premise of a director who sees himself as Terrence Malick 2.0 tiring of working w/ actors who demand that all the red M&Ms be removed from their Jackson Pollack painted 8-wide trailers who creates a virtual no demand actor is really no longer science fiction.
If you wanted it to take the more tragic tone that it plays with then you'll be disappointed.Oh, the movie stars Al Pacino in fine form that is not virtual --I think..
this movie will go down as one of my all time favorite's.Claudia Jordan was given a chance to work with one of the best actors in the industry,Al Pacino.The part she plays is (to me) one of the biggest scenes in the movie..but if you blink you will miss it.and for some reason Claudia J and the main star newcomer Rachel Roberts have the same lovely figure.I assume thats why she was given her albeit very short role.Some may not consider this a comedy but i throughly enjoyed it.it may seem like an overblown art film but i like the modern twist and think it was a complete delight.If you don't totally understand it the first time,watch it again,it grows on you.$.
A frustrated Hollywood director gets tired of dealing with temperamental actresses and is near bankrupt as a man approaches him with an offer of a problem-free, always available digitally generated actress that could save his career.The low ratings this film has got are a serious sign that not everyone knows when to take things seriously or just watch them for fun.
The acting was good, but that could not overcome the enormously stupid plot.I thought this would be a movie worth watching because of the presence of Al Pacino, but that certainly was not the case.
This is the kind of movie which makes me wonder if people liked for no more reasons than the fact that we love to see Al Pacino on our screen.
`Simone' tells the story of a down-on-his-luck film director, Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino) who, fed up with the rampant egotism of the stars he is forced to work with, finds a way to circumvent the problem when a `madman' scientist shows him how to create a cybernetic actress named Simone.
We know what we are SUPPOSED to be thinking while watching `Simone'  that Hollywood is filled with rampant egotists and phonies, that moviemaking is based on manipulative illusions and that modern audiences are only too willing to fall for and even worship hollow and empty glamour at the expense of the really important things in life  but the heavy handed, humorless way in which the message is delivered robs the film of most of its incisiveness and point.
If someone created a digital actor so lifelike that no one could tell the difference, how would people react?When prima donna Winona Ryder leaves director Al Pacino in a lurch, he thinks his movie and his tanking career are doomed.
When famous actress Nicola Anders (Winona Ryder) abandons one of Taransky's movie, Viktor realizes that he needs one hit film with a brand new, perfect actress.
Watched recently on HBO this movie,which for AL Pacino is certainly a much different role from the usual ones he used to play.I liked the idea ,of this artificially simulated star,it might be credible to certain extent in the real world.The whole success of Simone lies certainly in the secrecy surrounding her,this creating for the moviegoers and the show business as a whole,that sensational taste which often contributes to success.I agree that some parts of the film might be not credible(so when tha playwright's former wife being in a separate car does not see that the puppet of Simone driving near her husband is a fake),but the whole philosophy of the movie is interesting.The final part,when "killed" Simone is brought again to life by a anti virus device,is certainly in line with our overhelming computer-dictated 21-st century.I can recommend this movie,as it is more than sf and comedy..
And yet Simone (or S1m0ne if you must) comes across as very second rate: the script is full of the worst kind of cliches and some of the actors fail to deliver their best performances, in particular Catherine Keener sounds like a TV actress while we know from Being John Malkovitch that she can do good work.
As said in my summary this one is not a comedy is pure satire of:celebrities - star system - hollywood - thirst for gossip - fame and the madness it can causeA good and interesting movie, with powerfull Pacino successfully carrying the load.
The most grating point of the film was the climax  too obvious and simplistic, however the final scene was satirically satisfying.Overall, Simone required stronger and more original direction to grade it up from good to great, but I certainly enjoyed myself.
Failing that, even the gag itself can't overcome it.The problem with `Simone', the latest film from writer, producer and director Andrew Niccol is that the movie doesn't know which it wants to be, bringing down the whole movie a couple of notches.Al Pacino plays Viktor Taransky, a down and out Academy Award-nominated director who just lost his last shot at a comeback  and his job  due to one too many `creative differences' with ego-centric actors.
She instantly becomes a hit, and Viktor is back in the movie business again, but not because of his filmmaking, because of his new cyber star that everyone else in the world thinks is a real person.
Oops.That's not to say this is a bad film  the satirical cuts at Hollywood and celebrity culture are cute, and the movie is lots of fun to watch for the great one-liners.
By ridiculing Hollywood and the whole media-hype that surrounds the film industry it raises questions about what movies and their stars have become.
And that's why I liked it so much.Al Pacino plays Victor Taransky, a Hollywood director who is more interested in making a fine movie rather than it's box office success.
Remember, it only establishes the plot.Although the story it's very much predictable (oh, I've seen this ending too many times), it's funny and perhaps it's also a yellow warning for all those in the movie business, especially actors, trying to own Hollywood with just a pretty face.
However, this one is a bit better than most.The movie stars Viktor Taransky, a movie director who has a great new movie to film, but no famous actress to star in it.
He runs into an old fan of his, Hank, who gives him an idea - if you can't find a real actress, why not make one of your own?Thus with Hank's (posthumous) help, Viktor creates a virtual actress called Simone, and stars her in his film.
This movie is a great self-ironic comedy about the Hollywood film industry..
Unfortunate, seeing as how "Simone" is one of the best films of the year.Al Pacino, looking more awake than he has in years, plays Viktor Taransky, a veteran Hollywood director who is fed up with tempermental primadonna stars more interested in a paycheck than a story.
Simone, the tale of a down-and-out director (Pacino) who creates a synthetic actress, is a marvelous film.
It was delightful to watch a movie that contained great characters, a story that cleverly satirized Hollywood and outstanding performances.
The utterly remarkable beauty of Rachel Roberts, the absolutely brilliant acting by Al Pacino, combined with some of the outermost limits of today's high technology graphics, and the very innocence and beauty of the film bring out feelings of simpathy, charm, perfection and sadness in the audience (in my opinion).At no time in the movie were negative aspects of a human personality introduced and carried out to the end (like greed, hate, jealosy, and scorn): love, compassion and understanding were shown to be the much stronger bonds.
From the first charming little scene in which director Viktor Taransky slaves away for his star, Vikkola (Winona Ryder), the tone of the movie is set, a light Hollywood satire that is for some reason reminiscent of "Tootsie."  But here's the kicker...
Simone is a delightfully funny movie that nevertheless gives us a good look at the life of its main character, movie director Viktor Taransky, played by veteran Al Pacino.