Mr. Nobody

Just caught the north American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. This is my first IMDb comment, doing it cause i saw no one else has written anything yet.

Jaco is an absolutely brilliant writer/director. I haven't seen too many art-house films, but I was pleasantly surprised by the tone which wasn't too serious, or pretentious. There were laugh out loud moments during a movie with themes concerning choice, destiny, and metaphysics.

I was enamoured by the love story, it was feel good without being Hollywood.

The visuals were amazing. I believe that Jaco explained that he used different DP's to film the different possible lives of Mr. Nobody. There were scenes set in the year 2092 that were absolutely stunning on the big screen.

I found the soundtrack to be awesome. Any movie with "Mr. Sandman" and "Where is my mind?" is alright by me.

The movie was extremely imaginative, original, funny, and will probably have me thinking about it and my own life for days after viewing.

This is the first time I have felt the need to post a review of a film, but the experience that this movie provided was so unique and profoundly moving that I feel compelled to post something of my thoughts.

I have just finished watching Mr Nobody after knowing nothing about the movie beforehand (perhaps a good thing as I may have avoided it otherwise), but was simply astonished by the originality, cinematography, acting, script, soundtrack and profoundly thought provoking ideas.

I realise that this film will not be to everyones taste, certainly I think it will not be fully comprehended by the younger generation as it does require a certain lifetime of experiences to relate, such as birth, love, marriage, children, separation, divorce, death, life changing choices etc.., but nevertheless it does make you deeply consider your own past decisions and future choices, and everyone of all ages will have made and will make these decisions.

The production values are very high and would not look out of place in a 'hollywood blockbuster' but it is the mix of cinematography and music mingled with the dramatic scenarios that make it truly memorable.

It is a difficult film to describe as it does not follow a traditional narrative structure, but that is what makes it so unique and truly memorable. An experience that will hopefully stay with you long after you have seen it. It certainly made for a hugely memorable experience for me. Others may differ in opinion, but I don't think anyone can argue that it is not intelligent, fresh, original and thought provoking.

Well done to all involved in providing something original, intelligent and very entertaining.

There's one thing about this film that makes me overlook the flaws:it's like nothing I've ever seen before. Some people walked out 20 minutes before the movie ended. I can't really explain to myself why ANYONE would do that (it was really tempting to ask but I literally couldn't take my eyes off the screen). It's really pointless to describe the plot because this movie is so much more then any summary could say. This film has so many stylistic, tonal and narrative changes that it seems absolutely mad for the first half hour. It's easily the most unique and worthy cinema experience in the last year, its feels very current. I could go on and on about the things I loved about this film but there's nothing right now that I would recommend seeing more to a person of any age, sex or taste in cinema. It's everything I could ask for in a film:funny, touching, thrilling, surreal, beautiful...

.Mr. Nobody is definitely one of my favorite movies. I had the opportunity to see it again 10 years after his release (in a wonderful director's cut version) and I am convinced that he is aging very well. Initially it was not taken into consideration in my country (Italy); then in 2016 the Italian distributors perceived the enormous success they had decided to take it to Italy. My advice is to watch it in the original language (you can find it on Netflix); dubbing,in my humble opinion, is done in a hurry and doesn't fully make the beauty that the film carries with it. Why did I like this movie so much? First of all, Jared Leto's performance is incredible, he really manages to extricate himself in a myriad of different roles with great skill. The soundtrack and the non-original songs that accompanied the film are perfect (including Where is my Mind by Pixies, great!). The film is complex, opens up a tons of readings and generates many questions, to watch and to review and to comment on. And finally, from a technical point of view, thanks to a very creative montage that creates a nice rhythm and a sensational photography is a pleasure for the eyes. In short, for me it is highly recommended.

This beautiful surreal movie is full of memorable lines that will make you reconsider your outlook on life, but this one is my favorite:

"At my age, the candles cost more than the cake. I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid I haven't been alive enough. It should be written on every schoolroom blackboard: Life is a playground - or nothing."

9/10