1 and 0 nly

This is great film. I attended LUFF essentially for the music but I managed to view 3 films, 1 and 0 nly, Bad Biology and Ido with 1 and 0 nly being the standout for me. I am a long time fan of Russian and Soviet cinema, Daneliya, Tarkovsky, Muratova, Zvyagintsev, and I attended this film as the festival programme listed it as "a Tarkovsky-like piece", I'm not sure that I agree but that is another story. The tone and aesthetic of this film with its minimalist cinematography contrasting against the hypnotic and drone like score work beautifully together to create a truly imaginative and cerebral science fiction film. The patronizingly didactic monologues that are paced throughout the film could have been penned by a clone of Dr. Theodore John Kaczynski and help to establish an emotional connection. The lead and only actor seems rightly cast as the martyr/scientist as he embraces this person with a candor and believability which if he had not, the film would not have worked. I enjoyed this film very much; my only regret is there aren't more films like it.

I viewed this film at the Lausanne Underground Film Festival in Switzerland (twice). It is rare for me to be entirely thrown as I like to think I am an open mind with reasonable intelligence, but at a certain point in this film I realized I had no idea what to think, so much that I became angry at the stupidity of it all and got up and left. I was very angry at myself and glad to find it would be screening in two days so I attend again.

This is a science fiction film for the lover of the conceptual and the abstract as opposite to the action and the special effects. It is a film that is layered with many possible meanings and it raises a lot of interesting questions about the nature of humanity and for me in particular the self righteous arrogance (which is why I got angry and left in the first viewing) that infuses so many of the human race.

Looking back at the first viewing I took it too literal an serious, big mistake, never again. Most if not all films appeal to a specific public and I think that this film would be hard to enjoy by a large number of people. I found it a compelling and unique piece of sci-fi cinema, admittedly, on the second viewing. I look forward to watching this film again on DVD and discussing it with some friends who I know it will blow their minds.