DVD/VIDEO: Nothing
NOTHING (2003)
My Rating: **** (out of *****)
Starring: David Hewlett, Andrew Miller
Director: Vincenzo Natali
My Review:
As incredible as movies can be, they tend to bear remarkable similarities to one another after a while. Though this fact certainly doesn’t take away from the experience of a truly good film, it does heighten our awareness of movies that dare to color outside the lines. Nothing does just that, and as such, is spectacularly and singularly bizarre, freakish, and downright absurd. It also happens to be one of the giddiest and most delightful motion picture experiences you are likely to have.
Nothing opens with a feverishly clever – and purportedly “true” - introduction to our primary subjects, David and Andrew (also the actors’ real names). It quickly becomes clear that these two guys – roommates sharing half a townhouse (literally) in a dizzyingly fanciful version of modern-day Toronto – are world-class losers. After a particularly hellish day in which Andrew is accused of kissing a little girl and David of embezzling his employer out of thousands of dollars, the hapless duo is faced with several different authorities pounding at their door, clamoring to demolish the condemned structure and arrest the accused men. At the height of this chaos, the outside world suddenly disappears. Aside from David, Andrew, pet turtle Stan, and the strange half of a house, only a bouncy white emptiness remains.
At first, the men are elated. All of their problems have gone away! Reality sets in quickly, however, and they soon become desperate for food. At the height of their panic, a startling revelation is reached. Andrew and David – hated by the world around them – have somehow obtained the ability to make anything that they despise disappear.
This fiendishly clever construct is the basis for what ultimately turns out to be an extremely satisfying movie. What begins as a wacky, off-the-wall comedy graduates into a thoughtful and almost harrowing look at the dark nature and destructive power of hate, and then, after a jaunty sidestep into gruesome horror, circles back around for one final dose of whimsy in a conclusion that bears an uncanny resemblance to the closing moments of Death Becomes Her, that early 90s classic with Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn. The journey is at times bumpy, but also - like a jeep ride over rough terrain - a hell of a lot of fun.
You must see Nothing to believe it. Director Vincenzo Natali, who helmed the similarly intelligent but much less engaging Cube, shows promising signs of maturity with this subsequent project. Where the limited budget at times detracted from Cube, it becomes just one more of Nothing’s marvels: that an effects-laden film with so few dollars behind it can look this good. Natali will be a talent to watch in the coming years.
My Rating: **** (out of *****)
Starring: David Hewlett, Andrew Miller
Director: Vincenzo Natali
My Review:
As incredible as movies can be, they tend to bear remarkable similarities to one another after a while. Though this fact certainly doesn’t take away from the experience of a truly good film, it does heighten our awareness of movies that dare to color outside the lines. Nothing does just that, and as such, is spectacularly and singularly bizarre, freakish, and downright absurd. It also happens to be one of the giddiest and most delightful motion picture experiences you are likely to have.
Nothing opens with a feverishly clever – and purportedly “true” - introduction to our primary subjects, David and Andrew (also the actors’ real names). It quickly becomes clear that these two guys – roommates sharing half a townhouse (literally) in a dizzyingly fanciful version of modern-day Toronto – are world-class losers. After a particularly hellish day in which Andrew is accused of kissing a little girl and David of embezzling his employer out of thousands of dollars, the hapless duo is faced with several different authorities pounding at their door, clamoring to demolish the condemned structure and arrest the accused men. At the height of this chaos, the outside world suddenly disappears. Aside from David, Andrew, pet turtle Stan, and the strange half of a house, only a bouncy white emptiness remains.
At first, the men are elated. All of their problems have gone away! Reality sets in quickly, however, and they soon become desperate for food. At the height of their panic, a startling revelation is reached. Andrew and David – hated by the world around them – have somehow obtained the ability to make anything that they despise disappear.
This fiendishly clever construct is the basis for what ultimately turns out to be an extremely satisfying movie. What begins as a wacky, off-the-wall comedy graduates into a thoughtful and almost harrowing look at the dark nature and destructive power of hate, and then, after a jaunty sidestep into gruesome horror, circles back around for one final dose of whimsy in a conclusion that bears an uncanny resemblance to the closing moments of Death Becomes Her, that early 90s classic with Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn. The journey is at times bumpy, but also - like a jeep ride over rough terrain - a hell of a lot of fun.
You must see Nothing to believe it. Director Vincenzo Natali, who helmed the similarly intelligent but much less engaging Cube, shows promising signs of maturity with this subsequent project. Where the limited budget at times detracted from Cube, it becomes just one more of Nothing’s marvels: that an effects-laden film with so few dollars behind it can look this good. Natali will be a talent to watch in the coming years.
R, for strong language including a strong crude sexual reference, disturbing images, brief horror-style violence and gore, and dark thematic elements
posted by Drew Miller at
11:16 PM
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