Mr. Nobody

source: Mr. Nobody

Found "Mr. Nobody" to be a difficult slog. While visually inventive and well structured, the final effect was ennui. Note: viewed the 133 minute version. Perhaps because it was an amalgam of: "Sliding Doors," "Butterfly Effect," ". . .Benjamin Button," "Slaughterhouse 5," "Run Lola Run," "FAQ About Time Travel," "Somewhere In Time," "Retroactive," etc. The interstitial physics lectures used to advance and explain the plot felt forced and pretentious. While it can be said of most films, this was the Director/Writer's singular vision, and it comes off as pet and obscure. The female leads, with the exception of Sarah Polley, are wasted. I've never seen the vivacious Diane Kruger so bland and underutilized. However, Jared Leto's work is outstanding. Curious about the release, I found "Mr. Nobody" received limited European screenings, and is not listed on Box Office Mojo. It seems to indicate there may not be a North American theatrical release. Perhaps DVD at some point. While I'm rarely on their side, notoriously unintelligent Distributors may be correct in not picking up "Mr. Nobody." Sadly, this heartfelt, greatly flawed film will be little seen and wear the badge of cult classic. It may be worth your time, and might resonate. It left me cold.

There are basically two types of art fans. There are those who love art because of the way it makes them feel. It can be a painting of a beautiful landscape, or a series of random colors on a canvas, but they love the feeling they get - the memories or dreams that are envoked - when they look at it. The art can be disturbing, but the emotion it envokes might still be a good one, such as overcoming a personal fear. The second type of art fan loves art for art's sake. A piece of art that does not evoke emotion is not quality art. It doesn't matter if that emotion is anger, resentment, fear, love, compassion, devotion, etc. As long as the art moves the viewer in some way, it is art. It doesn't matter if the art is ugly and repulsive. Those that gave the movie a good rating are art lovers of the second type. I am an art lover of the first type. This script makes no sense. Even for a sci-fi/fantasy movie, it makes no sense. It is not deep. It does not make you think. It's stupid. Oh, the people who love movies will say, "You just don't 'get' it. It's over your head. You're too dense to understand quality art" Whatever. I don't have to prove anything to them. If you're a movie fan that likes a good story that engages you, enwraps you, then makes you feel good at the end, this movie is not for you. If you're more concerned about impressing a professor of filmmaking at SUNY or UCLA than admitting you really did like The Notebook, then this movie is for you.

This is the kind of film you don't see too often. It is truly a visual masterpiece. I haven't heard about this french director, but "Mr Nobody" really blew my mind in all its images, dreams, romance and complexity. The movie has similarities to films by Michel Gondry but i think this film was more magical. Dreamlike and existential films. Some might think Mr Nobody is too complex, too demanding. It is not for everyone, but I loved it. Like other surreal movies, Peter Jacksons "The Lovely Bones", and "Synechdohe: New York" "Dr. Parnassus", "Micmacs"- these dreamlike and "difficult" films must be terribly expensive to produce and I ask myself how can the companies go through with these productions? These flicks never generate big box office money. Im amazed that they still make this kinds of demanding visual movies for cinema. And glad. I discovered the greatness of Jared Leto as an actor when he played John Lennons Killer in Chapter 23. That was a truly disturbing and amazing acting of a disturbed fanatic loner. Mr Nobody is however the role of his life! If you like this kinds of movies I recommend "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind", "Synechdohe: New York" and "THE FOUNTAIN". They really make you think!

As I'm writing this, my brain is still analyzing and thinking of "Mr Nobody" which I just saw at the Stockholm film festival. Everything from the beginning to the end, moved me. This could be one of the greatest masterpieces this year and I'm hoping to see this score multiple awards of different kinds. Jaco Van Dormal was not a that was stored in my memory, and I had a hard time remember just who he is. After this movie I'll never forget. "Mr Nobody" was a movie with many questions and theories. Confusing but still dazzling. The shooting was really great, I love the type of filming when you cross from scene to scene with a continuent flow of events. When "Nemo", the lead character switched from dimensions it was often expressed by him waking up from a dream. This was very interesting but I don't really know what to make out of it. Life is nothing but an illusion, perhaps?

I saw Mr Nobody last night in a jam-packed theatre. I guess that the main reason for this is that I am in Belgium and the writer/director is Belgian. The response of the audience was amazing. I was in Flanders and so the film wasn't dubbed. The film is magical and surreal. And yet it makes sense. Not many have achieved this, but Jaco Van Dormael seems to have done it with ease. It did take him 13 years however. If you liked Toto Le Héro, you should love this film too. Switching between the UK and Canada works brilliantly and Jared Leto, Toby Regbo and Juno Temple steal the show. Ifans and Little are also fantastic. Diane Kruger's strong German accent is unfortunate as the film needs no unintentional surrealism added to it. I think her role needed a stronger actress (she looks very beautiful though). In all I recommend everyone to go and see it. The only reason the film gets an 8 (and not a higher score) is because towards the end it seemed to go on a bit. I will go and see it again however. The story really draws you in and I need to go back to search for some answers. I also want to see it again because it is so beautifully filmed. Van Dormael is an artist. I enjoyed this film as much, if not more, than a David Lynch. And that truly is a compliment.

I usually like these kinds of movies. Imaginary ones, where everything isn't always as it seems. I loved 'Eternal sunshine for the spotless mind', for instance. However, this is pure trash. I actually sat through the whole movie because it seemed like something I would like, and by the end I was hoping it would have a twist or come to a conclusion. But it's all random. The whole movie is random. The women he's married to, what he is doing, how he grew up, where he grew up. I realise that that's the idea behind the film, but what is the point? There is no character development whatsoever. One of his wives (just those words seem silly) is severely depressed one minute and the next minute she's dead and has been so since the wedding day. Everything is interchangeable and you realise how easy this movie must have been to make. Just put dramatic scenes in there and you win the audience. Obviously, seeing how everyone seems to think this is "brilliant" and "a masterpiece" etc. I can tell you all, as a warning: it is not. It is one of the worst movies I have ever forced myself to watch. This is not a story, it's just random, interchangeable dramatic scenes.

Howcome nobody recognizes that this movie is so unoriginal. It tries to convince you by throwing in lots of special effects, tricks and (fake) emotions. In total it's a big struggle to be artistic, romantic, science-fiction and a commercially marketable all in one. I recognized not only story elements of other movies, even literal shots that were stolen from other (and better) movies. For example: there is this scene brother and sister (not related by blood) are having a private moment where he touches the skin of her arm and you see the hairs of her arm stand up. This idea and even the angle of the shot directly relates to one of the key shots in "The Fountain" (Darren Aronofsky) but this is just one of many. To name some titles; the movie reminds me too much of "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind", "Waking Life", "Sliding Doors", "Jeu d'infant", "Being John Melkovich" ... Why does the main character only have three choices in his love life: the three girls he sees on a bench when he is a child. In three different dimensions he marries them, while he is only happy with his 'true love' while in these other realities he feels miserable with his fashion-model women. Why if you are unhappy, drag on with it? And he has all these children,and never cares about them. And what about friends? This film pretends to be open minded, while nothing in the story really is. (especially the religious notes that subconsciously are interlaced in the story) This film pretends to be original, while it is filled with clichés only.

In this very long, very beautifully photographed, labyrinthine semi-science fiction epic a very old person remembers his life in a very muddled way and we are presented with alternative stories of what (really?) happened. One gets the feeling from the very beginning of the movie that it wants to say something important. After more than two hours of tedious storytelling with a lot of repetitions, and alternative solutions of the life-story told, I have no idea what that important message is. I was so bored by this movie that I nearly panicked, and I wanted to leave the cinema, and the only reason I stayed was that my friend I was seeing it with wanted to see it through (though she was pretty bored too but she still had the hope of something meaningful at the end). The director and most people involved in this movie are obviously talented, but the problem is the manuscript, or rather, the idea as a whole. This overlong movie is a waste of time and money.

7.9 ? Are you serious? Right, giving it 1/10 to try and drag it back down into sanity. Real vote probably ... maybe 3/10, for: * It's really pretty * It's quite funny in a few places * Rhys Ifans Now for the rest - This film is TWO HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES - two hours and THIRTY MINUTES for the extended version that we were stupid enough to watch - of pretty, occasionally funny, very repetitive, completely shallow, vacuous and valueless BALDERDASH. With Rhys Ifans in it every now and again. On about the 9th day of continuous watching, during the 415'th love-scene (or was it the 514'th... I forget) where the hero must prove his eternal love for this woman yet again or some such desperate crap, my partner and I realised we had been well and truly had. This epic Ship Of Fail, this marvel of 'We Forgot To Write It First'ness, has: * No story * No moral * No ending * No great big reveal * No thinking beyond the depth of early high-school 'philosophy' * No ending * Nothing at all to say, really * Did we mention it never ends? EVER? "Mr. Nobody" is a pretentious w*nkfest and 2 1/2 hours of your life better spent elsewhere. I believe the category for this type of film is: "Vithually Thtunning"