Zenith

An exciting stand-up triple that falls frustrating short of a home run. Wonderfully original and thought-provoking story covering the dystopian topics of power structures without rule-of-law, genetic manipulation on a mass scale, mind chemical crutches, and the erosion of scholasticism. Acting, sets, and cinematography all done well, which is impressive given the film's 12 dollar and 50 cents budget. Unfortunately, many story elements get tossed in without backdrop or development (how did everyone get genetically altered as soon as 2044, especially in a world lacking the organizational framework of governments?). It feels like the too-condensed movie version of a epic-length cerebral sci-fi book series, like Herbert's Dune or Card's Ender, but sadly, no such luck. Nevertheless, Zenith is brain candy worth chewing on over and over.

A risky genre-bender that brings the story's central question back in the end to the viewer to answer, it's a rare film that dares this somersault. What do I mean? Commercial narrative movies mostly plot a storyline that ultimately plays to the expectation to entertain. Rarely does a film slap us in the end to wake up out of the trance of watching a movie and re-think what we've seen. Like the Schrodinger cat experiment, we'll only know the answer if we open the box, but the film only leads us to the box. Sometimes that's a gimmick, but given the subject matter, here it's a clever device to get us to rethink everything and reconsider the crucial question of the story. Of course it will alienate many viewers who will watch it because of the "thriller" and "sci-fi" taglines, since it uses the genre formulas only as disguise. Cinematically, it's well done, playing around with standard movie tropes and conventions and crossing some lines but not going overboard. It's a shame Peter Scanavino settled for Law and Order. Based on this performance he could've done much more. Jason Robards III is eerily reminiscent of his late father and David Thornton is brilliant. Why aren't they more present in mainstream movies? Bottom line, recommended if you're up for a subversive cinematic experiment in form and content.

Before I even get into the review of this movie I want to point out one crucial thing, this is NOT just a movie, this is what several people on the inter-webs calls an "alternate reality game" ultimately involving people who watch the film, listen to the album or read the book. Great example is Nine Inch Nails album "Year Zero".

Now let us get into the meat of this beefy film, a few reviews below me had to have been done by someone who is involved with Fred Phelps,maybe they decided to watch it with family, and then there is the possibility this person hasn't seen an indie movie in his entire life.

This movie follows very close with the styles of Fight Club, with the narration, and such events that I will not disclose for your sake.

This movie/mockumentary will start out kind of confusing but it wants you to hang in there because not only are the following hour and twenty minutes worth it, but are crucial for you to get ANY grasp on this film. Without partaking in the ARG. The camera styles used are just as you would expect on a low budget film, but it doesn't ruin or take away from the film at all.

The acting is far from sub-par, but very well for relatively unknown actors and actresses, with slips here and there but its easily over looked. Sets looked as though this dystopian 2044 would be possible.

But the end, I didn't quite get it, its not as out there cause they're really is no end at the end of the movie, it is open for YOU the viewer to help Jack out, find out the true end of everything.

But to say that they used the "F bomb" too much is BS, I have seen holly wood movies use it more, it sillier ways than this movie did, and to say that the "love" scenes were anything less than a standard holly wood "sex" scene is ludicrous, maybe if it was Channing Tatum and Katy Perry it wouldn't be as bad, or maybe if they played some John Mayer while it was going on, its crazy to say it was over used over played, it set the movie with a different feel.

And yes there may or may not be a "rape" scene, but you decide, and tell me what you think. Also note they're MAY be an abortion scene... MAYBE you can help me out with that, maybe you have the 4:3 version that I could borrow to see more.

Just trying to state the obvious, this movie is at its best a mind bending twist of crazy, and at its worst... a mind bending twist of crazy, its no Serbian Film...

there is very little that hinder this movie from being a top movie in 2010, or even being viewed once by all who have netflix.

If you don't watch this you are missing out.

Zenith is not a science fiction movie. It uses an imagined future to highlight contemporary issues. It is related to films like Godard's Alphaville, and has no relation to Star Trek and similar. As the credit reads, this is an experiment. It uses cinematic and literary tropes to invite the audience into a dialog about human psychology and societal convention, power and control. Before the latest corporate takeover of cinema, that wouldn't have been unusual. Nowadays, many or most viewers are conditioned to evaluate movies only in terms of budgets, spectacle, celebrity names, and how well they execute trite formulaic plots. If you don't belong to that group, this film will speak to you.

There is so much to unpack in this film. I saw it a decade ago and followed some of its meta-narratives online when it came out. I saw it again now. It's bewildering to think how much the context is the same but also different from ten years ago - from Anonymous to conspiracy theories to the pharmaceutical references and everything else- reality is truly stranger than fiction. I'll leave it at that, so as not to spoil the fun of discovering this unique film. Zenith is even more timely now than when it was initially released. Lots of comparisons to dystopian films and books have been made, but I would say James Graham Ballard is the most apt one. This film is a wild ride for free souls and open minds. If you take it literally and think that it doesn't make sense that people would take medication to feel pain, or that Jack's inner monologue is not a tongue-in-cheek literary reference, or trust his father to tell you the truth about that famous psychological experiment and consider the ending to be a cop out, you are missing the point. It's like saying why doesn't Godot show up in Waiting for Godot. Duh.