Directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey, Contact is the 1997 sci-fi classic based on Carl Sagan's novel — the story of a SETI scientist who picks up a signal from the star Vega and discovers there are layers upon layers of information buried inside it, including the blueprints for a machine built to carry a single passenger. In this From the Vault episode, Fraser winds the clock back nearly thirty years and talks through the whole film, start to finish.

In this review, Fraser shares why a film that felt painfully slow to a much younger him has become one of his favourite slow burns, the stunning one-take mirror shot that remains his standout moment of the entire movie, the surprising musical connection between Contact and Forrest Gump that turned out to be true, and how a certain billionaire character feels eerily ahead of his time watching it in 2026.

🎬 COMING UP NEXT

Next Review: Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Fraser takes on Hunt for the Wilderpeople, the 2016 comedy adventure from Taika Waititi starring Sam Neill and Julian Dennison. One month on from the passing of a New Zealand legend, Fraser pours a glass of Sam's own Two Paddocks Pinot and revisits his most Kiwi film for a special tribute episode. Why did one grumpy bushman and one rebellious foster kid capture an entire country? And is this the finest performance of Sam Neill's career?

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Thanks for listening to Frame 70 Movie & TV Reviews. New movie and TV reviews drop regularly, along with deep dives and classics from the vault. For everything Frame 70, head to frame70.com