Rating: 
Summary: unusual, pleasing
Review: Admittedly, there were a few places where I had to briefly rewind and thought "whaaaat?" But once I accepted the quirky premise of the film, it was entertaining. It definitely is a different method of exploring an interesting historical character. I don't regret the purchase at all.
Rating: 
Summary: A well-measured dose of reality.
Review: First, the fiction: Perhaps the premise is a little contrived. Channeling the spirit of a famous Victorian woman into a PC (and more than the PC) is a bit improbable. Fine. Once that premise is in place, the plot stays within its own inner logic and moves forward quite well.The reality, though, is what struck me. First, there is Ada herself. Yes, she was brilliant. She made a place for herself when all the places were reserved for men. We've heard that part. She was also a real, flawed human being, with a destructive gambling habit. Much of her interest in math and algorithms was centered on finding "the system" for beating the odds in horse races. Her creation of programming was driven by an urge that she could not control - like a flower that blooms because it grows in manure. Emmy seems real, too, a fully mature "geek girl," but drawn with respect. She's intelligent, wholly wrapped up in her work, and also driven by a vision of her own. Best, she is completely a woman - not pretty, but beautiful, and not just a male role with a female actor. Emmy represents a character that I know and admire in real life. This is the first time I've seen it portrayed on screen, or at least portrayed so strongly. Finally, the ethical question of Emmy's daughter is very real. The exact circumstance, as I said, is fiction. The issue is not: We have unprecedented control over what a baby, a new human being, can become. What kinds of control are morally acceptable? To tell the truth, I think Emmy took "what we can do" well past "what we should do."
Rating:
Summary: Highly Unusual And Original
Review: I wasn't expecting much from this film since I'd never heard of it. It had been released back in 1997 and I couldn't have missed something this good, could I? Not this movie-hound! It pains me to admit it but I indeed let this one slip by. The totally inventive idea is to have a woman genius of today's world, working on her computer to finish her research project, meet Ada Byron. This genius conceives a child with her lover while doing this work and shortly thereafter discovers she is able to communicate with Ada Byron, Lord Byron's daughter and the inventor of the computer, through her computer screen. We thereafter flip back and forth to the two worlds, learning more and more about Ada and even a bit about the woman carrying the baby and running the computer. There is even a visit to the OB-GYN with today's woman that shows something unusual is developing with the baby. Timothy Leary puts in what was probably a final screen appearance before his death as, what else, a guru for the woman genius. She consults him periodically and they discuss abstractions together. There are some highly original camera techniques used here that either required fairly new equipment/technology, a lot of imagination or both. IMDB lists this as a German production but it is performed in the English language and seems set in America and England. The reason I give it a 4 instead of a 5 is that at times the film got confusing. I think this was because the script was rough around the edges. If the writer had smoothed out the script and eliminated any potential confusion, this could have been a perfect 5. I'm going to watch it again and it may move up to that 5 if my confusion clears a second time through it. I recommend you give this a try, especially anyone interested in historical women bucking the odds back in what were barbaric times for them.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Unusual And Original
Review: I wasn't expecting much from this film since I'd never heard of it. It had been released back in 1997 and I couldn't have missed something this good, could I? Not this movie-hound! It pains me to admit it but I indeed let this one slip by. The totally inventive idea is to have a woman genius of today's world, working on her computer to finish her research project, meet Ada Byron. This genius conceives a child with her lover while doing this work and shortly thereafter discovers she is able to communicate with Ada Byron, Lord Byron's daughter and the inventor of the computer, through her computer screen. We thereafter flip back and forth to the two worlds, learning more and more about Ada and even a bit about the woman carrying the baby and running the computer. There is even a visit to the OB-GYN with today's woman that shows something unusual is developing with the baby. Timothy Leary puts in what was probably a final screen appearance before his death as, what else, a guru for the woman genius. She consults him periodically and they discuss abstractions together. There are some highly original camera techniques used here that either required fairly new equipment/technology, a lot of imagination or both. IMDB lists this as a German production but it is performed in the English language and seems set in America and England. The reason I give it a 4 instead of a 5 is that at times the film got confusing. I think this was because the script was rough around the edges. If the writer had smoothed out the script and eliminated any potential confusion, this could have been a perfect 5. I'm going to watch it again and it may move up to that 5 if my confusion clears a second time through it. I recommend you give this a try, especially anyone interested in historical women bucking the odds back in what were barbaric times for them.
Rating:
Summary: There is never enough Time
Review: I'm a guy but I can recognize genius even when the genius is so centred on being woman - man's nigger by biology - here a female view of the world so intensely true - I can almost see it feel it. Leeson is a beacon and a hope. May the torch she takes from Ada be handed forward to many but beginning with one very special Ashleigh.
Rating:
Summary: An exciting postmodern woman-centered film
Review: It's therapeutic to watch films that portray women as they really are: strong, intelligent, sexually free and central actors in history! The stream of conciousness storytelling is beautifully organic. The main characters are refreshingly complex, with contradictions and difficulties. I highly recommend this film for the education of all young women.
Rating:
Summary: An exciting postmodern woman-centered film
Review: It's therapeutic to watch films that portray women as they really are: strong, intelligent, sexually free and central actors in history! The stream of conciousness storytelling is beautifully organic. The main characters are refreshingly complex, with contradictions and difficulties. I highly recommend this film for the education of all young women.
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious and Pointless
Review: The idea seems promising enough: a magical realist meditation on Ada Byron King, a fascinating historical figure who, among other things, wrote in the mid-19th century what is arguably the first computer program. Unfortunately, this film has nothing -- and I mean nothing -- to say in its 85 excruciatingly tedious minutes. Conceiving Ada touches on a wide range of subjects -- time travel, sexuality, computers, and memory -- but fails to generate a single insight about any of them. This film desperately wants to say something, but doesn't. It wants to be beautiful and original. It wants to be the sort of film you argue about over coffee afterward, but it comes up empty-handed. You will look at your watch. A lot.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Movie!!
Review: this film was very thought provoking and interesting. the struggle between emmy and her work and her life is wonderfully juxtaposed with the past of ada. wonderfully directed and shot. best movie ever...enough said.
Rating:
Summary: best movie ever
Review: this film was very thought provoking and interesting. the struggle between emmy and her work and her life is wonderfully juxtaposed with the past of ada. wonderfully directed and shot. best movie ever...enough said.
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