Nirvana

I want to start by praising Diego Abatantuono's performance in this movie. He belongs in more cult films like this. I could see him working very well with the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, or Frank Miller's crew. The man just owns the screen and you can't help but feel his energy. Brilliant job, made the movie for me.

As for the rest of the story, I enjoyed it for what it was. A B style creative science fiction movie. I always admired Christopher Lambert for his choice to lend his talent to a more free and open market of film making. There are B Sci Fi movies and then there are B Sci Fi movies with Christopher Lambert, much in the same way Bruce Campbell enjoys the unofficial bad ass award when it comes to B Horror Movies.

This is a gem for fan's of the genre, other's may not enjoy or understand how to enjoy a movie like this. I can't really recommend this movie to everyone, but I will recommend it to people who enjoy this genre. 6/10

Films generally carry a title for a reason. Salvatores's Nirvana's is the key to understanding it. Without the key, the film will look like rubbish, like many comments here testify. But, if you get that key and use it, it can become one of the most astonishing movie experiences you may make.

The title is not just the name of a videogame. That is totally incidental.

The movie is about the voyage towards Nirvana - the real thing - of two men (or maybe of one man and his own projection in a virtual world): how the two (or maybe the man and his own inner conscience) start to understand what Nirvana is and how they eventually reach it, in spite of all misadventures and (that is not casual at all...) the cycles of deaths and rebirths that the virtual self Solo (meaning alone, in Italian, not Star Wars' character - again not a coincidence) has to go through.

This is a movie about symbolisms. This is a movie about the deepest searches of the soul. Searches that cannot be disturbed by petty concerns (see Bebo Storti's apparently bizarre line after he appears in a flash for just a few seconds to shoot and kill a very unlucky henchman "I am MEDITATING [profanities deleted]!").

Science fiction is incidental to its aims, and provides a fabulously well used tool to unravel the story in what I regard as a cinematic masterpiece.

Blade Runner's climax ended on the recognition that replicants (and humans, maybe) were just "tears... in the rain". Nirvana's is about snowflakes that fall forever, and yet never fall.... Pity this is so far above the expectations of an average moviegoer that most viewers did not even recognize the genius in its simplicity. My congratulations to Cacucci, Corica and Salvatores!

I wanted to watch Nirvana as I heard it was made by the same people doing Mediterraneo, which I enjoyed. I watched it in Italian, so bad dubbing was not a real problem for me (even if Christopher Lambert is clearly not speaking Italian). A lot of reviewers compared this to films like Johnny Mnemonic and The Matrix, but that is just inviting disappointment. The best American film match that I know of is Existenz. The same ideas of games becoming too real, intermingling with reality, to the player's downfall.

The film has several things going for it. One is Christophe Lambert, who is always funny in any movie, no matter how bad it is. Another is the very beautiful Stefania Rocca, playing the mysterious Naima. The best thing, in my opinion, is that it is a truly Italian film, rather than a clone after an American movie, a feeling that is enforced by Diego Abatantuono playing the role of Solo in a typical Italian way. Other things, like the scene with the guy killing someone in the corridor because they were making too much noise 'ma che cazzo?!' or the car antitheft device spouting Italian insults are good examples.

The cyberpunk theme is clearly influenced by William Gibson's vision (I mean, what cyberpunk film isn't?), and in a way steals a lot of the elements you see in Johnny Mnemonic, released just two years earlier, but the moral of the story is more metaphysical in nature.

As much as I liked all of these elements in the film, I have to also complain about a lot of others. The low budget feel, the technicolor "virtual world", some of the clicheatic characters, etc. Overall I liked it, though, and I think for its budget, country of origin and ambitions, it was not a failure.

I've been a fan of Gabrielle Salvatores' dreamy, surrealistic style ever since I saw the first 5 minutes of "Denti" (2000). Now there's a film for movie buffs to sink their teeth into, lame pun intended. I immediately went on the hunt and found his follow up films, "Io non ho paura" (2003) and "Quo Vadis Baby" (2005) which I also thoroughly enjoyed, and now I'm working my way backwards to his earlier films.

Then I saw "Nirvana" (1997) and it stopped me dead in my tracks. My first impression was that it's a really good story but the presentation fell short, felt incomplete and lacked authenticity. Then I found out that's because the Miramax (DVD) is a total hack job of the original film, with 20 minutes chopped off and distracting dubbing of all the actors' voices. In case you didn't already know, the original film is in Italian, and it was dubbed into English for this particular DVD.

The story itself is really interesting, and it's a cut above all the other cyberpunk movies that were churned out in the late 90s capitalizing on the burgeoning net culture. "Nirvana" is set in a dystopian future à la Bladerunner and follows 3 days in the life of a software programmer (Christopher Lambert) who is about to deliver his masterpiece virtual reality game called Nirvana. The problem: with only 3 days to go before it hits the market, the main character in the video game becomes self-aware and starts questioning the game he's in. The movie then splits into 2 concurrent timelines, one with Lambert trying to stop the game's release, and two with the video game character trying to understand his own existence.

With a good dose of action, lots of style and peppered with some good unexpected comedic moments, the film is entertaining. But (I'm assuming due to the Miramax hack job) it often feels rushed, disorienting or just plain nonsensical at times. If you watch the Miramax DVD (96 mins) be sure to take it with a grain of salt, or as I'm trying to do, hunt down the original 113 min Italian version which is generally loved by all who have seen it.

OK, so you've always wondered what the matrix would be like with a good leading actor (rather than the wooden Reeves), a better script, no spectacular action scenes, and low budget. This is your film. We have Chris Lambert in one of his best films (along with "Subway" and of course, "Highlander"), this is not his average film. The goal is to erase the game in which its main character is aware of his condition of "gamething" and is damned to live and die. This Super Mario working for the Mafia (Abatantuono) is terrifically great. Sergio Rubini is great too, and the whole cast in general kicks ass! What to do with low budget? THIS MOVIE!

8/10