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Man, I love trash! Serve me up Russ Meyer, Roger Corman, Ed Wood, Psych-Out, Rock'n'Roll High School or Angel, Angel, Down We Go and I'm a happy camper. But it's not so easy to make successful SELF CONSCIOUS trash. Troma try it and rarely succeed. The Chiodo brothers pulled it off with Killer Klowns from Outer Space, but Gregg Araki not only succeeds with Nowhere but takes it to the next level. Nowhere is the 90s Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls and then some. I can't even begin to tell you how cool this movie is! Look at the sensational cast which includes the debut of Mena Suvari, a couple of Bradys and best of all the wonderful find of Sarah Lassez. Add a spot on soundtrack of Sonic Youth, Elastica, JAMC, Portishead and Stacey Q(!) Plus Gibby from the Butthole Surfers, John Ritter playing a televangelist, an alien with a zap gun and Throbbing Gristle jokes! What more can you wish for?

The future is NOW, and Nowhere is THE place to be.

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.

As was said above, this is basically 90210 on Acid. From the very beginning one can tell that this film is going to be a major head trip, and would likely be best watched while high on some manner of substance. Still...I'm no stoner, but was able to watch and enjoy it without difficulty. The movie chronicles a typical day of the average 90s teenager, but with perspectives from all orientations and view points: lesbians, gays, bisexuals, stoners, drunks, the whole nine yards. The acting was excellent, and the plot, though difficult to see at points, was quite good. The thing that threw me was the addition of the alien that apparently only Dark can see. It seemed to simultaneously interrupt and fit the story line. Conclusion: this is easily one of my favorite indie films, and I hope I can find time to see it again.

Gregg Araki can be faulted for not inviting the "main stream" audience into his "vision" of the world. But this probably isn't really a goal of his, anyway. As I watched "Nowhere" in the theater (twice in one week) I was filled with awe that something I had always felt had been so colorfully put on celluloid: finding love is all that matters, but the world isn't designed to make that finding easy. So when "Dark" finds an amazingly true moment amongst the usual Araki violence, hilarity, sex and clutter (a moment to simply relax and hold the person in the bed next to him) it rings true to the heart of experience. The movie ends in the next moment with an equally true touch. So, the sooner we find love, the sooner it can find its own reason to leave us. Araki's best film. If you don't get it, then he probably doesn't want you to.

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.