Nowhere - Eine Reise an den Abgrund der Seele

What Gregg Araki presents to us here is nothing but good old-fashioned trash! Giving us a taste of the glorious Russ Meyer reign during the sixties and seventies, which is a terribly ignored field of cult-cinema. Simply put, this film is extremely COOL to look at! The title is very appropriate because this film indeed leads to nowhere and it's Gregg Araki's view on the subject of teen-alienation. Without even trying, he beats that other overrated director Larry Clark who takes himself way too serious anyway. Nowhere constantly introduces kinky and eccentric characters, each and every one of them suffering from modern diseases and problems like drugs, eating disorders, nymphomania, hallucinations, aggression and even suicide! Araki even touches the more daily problems like popularity and faithfulness. The pivot in this hysterical bunch is Dark, an utterly confused, bisexual young man who's convinced that he's going to die soon. Dark is played by James Duval, an over-talented young actor and building up a solid cult-reputation through starring in other goodies like ‘Donnie Darko' and ‘May'. Duval also was the key figure in the previous entries of Araki's apocalyptic trilogy, carrying the very imaginative titles `Totally F***ed Up' and `The Doom Generation'. Both films that come with my highest possible recommendation as well, but I'm strongly convinced that Nowhere is Araki's best and most personal achievement. It just is a magnificent series of hilariously messed up conversations and actions, leading towards a truly insane anti-climax. I can easily imagine that mainstream film-audiences will absolutely loath this film, but I'm a giant fan…and Araki can be sure of the fact that his film already built up a cult-following by now.

It's truly remarkable how Gregg Araki managed to work with such an overly well-known and talented cast. Practically every little role in Nowhere is credited with a famous name of the young and upcoming Hollywood generation. In the tiniest, most meaningless figures, you'll recognize faces like Heather Graham, Shannen Doherthy, Stacy Keanen, Scott Caan, Ryan Phillipe, Jordan Ladd, Mena Suvari and many, many more… The absolute highlights however, are the cameos by multiple veterans like Beverly D'Angelo as Dark's slutty mother and especially John Ritter as a religion guru on TV. You hear it, there's so much to discover in this film…I can't praise it enough!

Gregg Araki can be faulted for not inviting the "main stream" audience into his "vision" of the world. But this probably isn't really a goal of his, anyway. As I watched "Nowhere" in the theater (twice in one week) I was filled with awe that something I had always felt had been so colorfully put on celluloid: finding love is all that matters, but the world isn't designed to make that finding easy. So when "Dark" finds an amazingly true moment amongst the usual Araki violence, hilarity, sex and clutter (a moment to simply relax and hold the person in the bed next to him) it rings true to the heart of experience. The movie ends in the next moment with an equally true touch. So, the sooner we find love, the sooner it can find its own reason to leave us. Araki's best film. If you don't get it, then he probably doesn't want you to.

Like an ancient poem the ideas, meaning and even aspects of the plot are left up to interpretation. This is a movie for anyone who has ever been so bored with his or current situation that he or she can just lay back and dream up a world of love, death,sex, drugs and aliens abductions and the end of the all life as we know it. Each character is kind one sided as we see the world through the eyes of Dark, the aptly named lead; these are not representations of all teens but only the annoying stereotypes as they relate to Dark's life. so taking all that in to account this is a great movie to share with friends (and confuse the heck out of them) or to watch when you're feeling a little bored yourself. With sets painted wild colors and out of place visuals it's clear that for Dark-life is but a dream.

This, along with "The Doom Generation", is one of my many favorite films. I remember showing this to quite a few people at different times, and two things seem to upset people the most: the bisexuality/homoeroticism and the loads of sex scenes that, depending on the scene, serve various purposes. One person I watched it with (she thought she was an intellectual and felt it was beneath her to sit through it) said there was no way this film could be saying anything important and called it a "porno movie". Naturally, since this film shows not one exposed genital organ or even a bare female breast, her argument was ridiculous. As for the homosexual things that go on in the film, I think that that makes people upset because it depicts these characters as human beings with emotions (which homosexuals and bisexuals are) and/or because it turns them on. I love this movie for many reasons. It's very schizophrenic, always going back and forth from harsh realities to gutbusting humor, and sometimes managing to blend them together in a strange and equal mix. It seems that Gregg Araki was trying to defy expectations of him here, and that he was trying not to make a film easily judged as "exploitation". This movie has more sex scenes than "The Doom Generation", but they are not explicit at all. The reasons these scenes are erotic and entertaining is because Araki works with the characters and dialogue to make the sex interesting without showing any nudity other than the occasional male butt. Also, where there would be so many people to call "The Doom Generation" garbage for its constant use of obvious profanities, the dialogue in "Nowhere", if you'll notice, was done without hardly any cusswords, unless you count the myriad of VERY creative slang terms poured all throughout. And as for the gore, there's one big scene and one brief, minor scene. What I find amazing is that even with these differences, "Nowhere" is no less fascinating and brutally effective than "The Doom Generation". I love them both, and, no matter how many disagree, I believe Araki is a very important, skillful, and versatile cinematic artist. I've decided to include no spoilers, but I do want to add one more thing: If you don't see any meaning to this, that still doesn't mean that it is completely meaningless and without a point.

As was said above, this is basically 90210 on Acid. From the very beginning one can tell that this film is going to be a major head trip, and would likely be best watched while high on some manner of substance. Still...I'm no stoner, but was able to watch and enjoy it without difficulty. The movie chronicles a typical day of the average 90s teenager, but with perspectives from all orientations and view points: lesbians, gays, bisexuals, stoners, drunks, the whole nine yards. The acting was excellent, and the plot, though difficult to see at points, was quite good. The thing that threw me was the addition of the alien that apparently only Dark can see. It seemed to simultaneously interrupt and fit the story line. Conclusion: this is easily one of my favorite indie films, and I hope I can find time to see it again.