Nowhere

Just saw this movie and my first thoughts were: "Better than "Kids", but not as great as "Trainspotting"..!". Gregg Araki´s film appears like an MTV-documentary (or an episode of "The Real Life") about an MTV-generation, whose imagination of life exists of sex, drugs, party and Playstation - a lifestyle which is fast and exciting, but after all also very surface and empty! Shot in the style of video clip the film makes a satire from the daily life of some Generation X-kiddies, which is often too loud and too exaggerated to be really effective! However, it´s like a small wonder not to be entertained by this movie! Even actors that I normally used to dislike, in the first line Ryan Phillipe or Denise Richards, don´t make bad impressions! And the rest of the supporting cast is really de luxe: Christina Applegate, Heather Graham, Beverly D´Angelo, Traci Lords, Shannen Doherty, Rose McGowan and especially John Ritter as television preacher refine this strange but quite enjoyable shot! I´d give 7 out of 10 for a funny bubble gum-satire, that nobody should take too serious..!

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!

This is one of those few films that builds up a wall of atmosphere around you and doesn't break it down until the movie's over. The lighting for Nowhere should have won a damned Oscar, and the performances are just how they should be: so by-the-numbers that they create the plastic, artificial/superficial feel director Gregg Araki was obviously striving for. This one is so cartoonish you'd think Ralph Bakshi made it at times, never letting anyone truly act, simply saying their lines with smarm and bravado.

This flick also represents the uncertainty that exists when teenagers go out at night. It seems that everyone is being pulled in by the magnet of a party, but the roads which may or may not lead them there are the fun in watching. Araki effectively builds up a strong cast of aquaintances, making you want to see such characters as Dingbat and Dark in everyday, artificial, bubblegum high school class. The bizarre alien subplot is a daring direction to go in, but it is forgiven when as the credits roll, all you can think about is the seemingly endless haze of moody aura that entranced you for eighty two fascinating minutes.

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.

reading the reviews already posted for this movie... I am saddened that so many people missed the point. it is about nothing and it is nowhere... as is just about everything that is popular now-a-days. this movie is about the absolute emptiness of pop culture and the absolute emptiness of most people's minds. I think most of you that didn't like this movie.. are either those being made fun of... or are so far out of anything doing with popular culture for you to get the joke.

secondly - this is a drug movie. i'm betting the average rating by people who've done acid is about 8.0 and the average for the others is about 3.0 --- check out the symbolism --- check out the colors --- check out the sound.

this culture is absolutely devoid of meaning - and that's all - and that's all.