Film Review: Nothing (2003)

[KOTLP]

Nothing (2003)



After being highly impressed by Cypher (2002) recently, and enjoying Cube (1997), I tried another Vincenzo Natali film. This Canadian film tells the "true" story of two friends, one of whom is a highly neurotic hermit, that live in a house together, along with their pet turtle. The house is out of place, oddly sandwiched between two highways. Through no direct fault of their own, a bunch of stuff goes horribly wrong, and before long their house is about to be demolished and the police are knocking at the door. Then suddenly, when everything is crashing down on them, the world external to their house disappears, replaced by a seemingly endless white emptiness with a bouncy, tofu-like surface. Yup.

They soon discover their situation is a result of a newly developed ability to will anything out of existence. They can even erase feelings and memories. However, they can't will things into existence. Sort of like retarded Gods.

There was serious potential here, but unfortunately I found the characters uninteresting and mostly annoying. Maybe it was my mood at the time (this one may require a mood enhancer). There are some laughs and genuine trippiness, but as the film switches focus from their predicament and new found powers to their relationship, the novelty wears off. This is likely generally one of those love it or hate it films. Monty Python fans may enjoy this one, it's certainly different.

6/10

[diebitter]

I like the sound of this. I'll seek it out and report back.