Nothing

Charlie Kauffman has made weird metaphysical angst popular, but this canadian gem makes it hilarious.

Like most weird films the less said about plot the better but let's set the scene, two friends Anthony and Dave have been together since childhood, they can't cope with the world and eventually this means they no longer have to. But that is where even more problems begin.

I loved this film, it made me smile long after the final credits and that is a rare experience with so many mass produced pieces of "nothing" out there.

Don't miss this.

Sitting, Typing… Nothing is the latest "what if?" fest offered by Vincenzio Natali, and starring David Hewlitt and Andrew Miller as two losers. One is having relationship problems, got canned from his job (because of relationship problems) and the police are out to get him (because of his job and his relationship problems). The other guy is a agoraphobic who refuses to go outside his home, is met by a bothersome girl guide who calls on her Mom to claim she was molested when he doesn't buy cookies from him. Oh yeah, the police are after him too, after the Mom of the girl scout call them in to arrest him.

Man, what a day.

What if you could make all of this disappear? That is the whole premise behind 'Nothing'. The two fools realize, the cops, the girl scout, the cars, the lawn, the road, everything… disappear. There's nothing but white space! This is an interesting concept I thought. I also looked at the time of this, 30 minutes had gone in the movie, and I still had an hour left in the movie. Could the 2 actors make this work and keep us entertained for 60 minutes? Although the actors try, 60 minutes IS a long time and there is clearly dead air in places of this movie. But the two actors, whom are life-long friends with each other and the director, have such great repertoire with each other, that it was fun to watch for the dialogue and improve goofing around the two do. There are lots of supernatural elements, but it's more of their response to these elements that ultimately make this film worth seeing.

I watched this as part of my course at Aberystwyth University and it baffles me how this does not have a distributor in the UK. Well actually, it doesn't, because this film is everything a Hollywood film isn't - original, creative, quirky and humorous. It seems that today no-one really wants to see this type of movie as, in the simplest terms, it doesn't conform to the generic conventions most young viewers look for in a film.

I haven't written a review for the IMDb for ages but felt inclined to give this film a special mention, even if it is during my 30 minute break between classes! Essentially, it is about nothing, as the two main characters are plunged into their own world of nothingness through a hate of the world. The brilliance here is how the director sustains interest through the majority of the run time with only two characters and when the only mise-en-scene consists of half a house and a vast white, empty space. This is due in large part to the stellar performances of the actors, both of whom offer some great laughs while at the same time being able to add significant emotional depth to their roles.

I'd love to write some more but am on quite a time limit. However I encourage anyone and everyone to give this film a try. A very unique concept is brought to the screen in a coherent and well-executed fashion, with the combination of good performances, a strong script, nice sound design and (fairly) impressive visuals creating a very entertaining movie.

It's just a shame so few people know about Nothing....

When it comes to IMDb comments for this movie we have a Matrix 3 situation - either folks love it and praise it to heaven or they venomously loathe it.

If I want to be objective I will say that this is a..well.. interesting movie. One of those "what if" movies where the creator has a weird idea and than wraps a movie around it. In "Cube" it was "What if a bunch of different people would be put in a strange cube with all sorts of traps inside it." In "Nothing" it is much simpler - "What if two guys suddenly found themselves in nothing - in a completely literal meaning of the word."

The idea is interesting and unusual and very attractive in some ways. You must be at least interested in questions like "How does this 'nothing' work, really?" or "How will they get out of it, if at all?". In other words, with idea like that you can hardly go wrong, can you?

Well, as a matter of fact, you kind of can. The biggest issue with this movie is how you (the viewer) will react to the tone of the movie and (even more important) how you'll react to the characters. The director chose a comedic, over-the-top approach, with lots of close-ups, shouting, overacting and quite a bit of Tim Burtonness thrown into it. If you accept this tone, you'll have fun and probably love it. If the two guys screaming at each other start getting on your nerves the movie will become a chore, since there is (literally) nothing else to occupy your attention.

For me it was a bit of both. At times I was amused, at times bored, at times extremely irritated by the unorthodox way the characters reacted to the situation they found themselves in. All in all I've found it to be an interesting experience, but nothing to get too excited about. Little flick to pass the time. If you like movies that are a bit off, or like to see something different than rent this. If you keep your expectations reasonably low, you'll probably like it. In the end, I've found myself wandering what if the characters were more down-to-earth, more believable (as were those poor people stuck in a Cube)? I think THEN this could be a truly great movie.

Well in any case, it's waaay better than that godawful "Hypercube".

6/10

P.S. I simply have to put a note of this - the DVD edition shamelessly tries to promote this as a horror movie. The cover shows a screaming mouth, a terrified eye and a ghastly hand with see-through blood/veins in it. It was even situated at the horror shelf at my DVD rental store and conveniently didn't have a genre label on it. While I understand this is done to up the sales a bit it is in my opinion totally unacceptable and will probably result in bad reputation for this movie. Many will rent/buy it believing they will see a "Cube"-like horror/mystery movie and then be completely put off by the light tone and silliness of the whole thing. God, I hate false advertising. Shame on you, distributors.

This surely has a lot of stuff to be called Nothing.

It was quite creative and original, and most of all - well acted.

A couple of good lines here and there, some almost emotional moments, but this movie never takes itself seriously and neither should you.

I was ok with its visual and overall style, but a more focused direction would've made this so much better. It was also a little confusing to see both actors from the Cube (plus the Director) and even hearing some of the Cube's sound effects re-cycled here.

I still wasn't sure what they were going for, probably a bit of everything. This is definitely not a film for everyone, not because it's too smart, but because it's original.