Arts

Film: Tron

For the second time this week I've been watching a film I really should have seen years ago.

I first became interested in computers in the late '70s, so I've known about Tron for years. It's a film that's become so iconic over the past two decades that whenever I come across blue neon - for example pictured here at the Broadgate Centre last month - I immediately think of Tron.

It's an interesting film, and it picks up so many of the themes running through the industry I now find myself working in: the garage-based start-ups, the suits/hackers divide, the pride and ego of the developer.

Visually, it's pleasing. Although at times the computer-generated graphics look like cartoons, elsewhere the screen is washed with beautiful, bold, abstract patterns that convey exactly the feel of living inside this dream.

I was surprised to catch glimpses of spiritual themes too: computer programs arguing over the reality or mythology of users and a discussion of whether a creation can ever become greater than its creator.

It's a dated film, but it's also a landmark one. Well worth catching if the guy who sits next to you at work lets slip he's just bought it on DVD.