Mr. Nobody

sink

Took a chance on this and downloaded it. Never heard of it before but I was well rewarded with an thoughtful, entertaining and heart-warming sci-fi film.

It stars Jared Leto with Diane Kruger and Rhys Ifans amongst the supporting cast.

I would describe it as a cross between "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind". Well worth checking out if you liked either of those two films.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0485947/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPEBatcEygY

It seems it's only been released in France and Spain way back in 2009 with no date for release here yet. As a result it's only available through less conspicuous channels. I wonder why as it's a good film, it should have no trouble getting a distributor. I would go see it again in the cinema if it ever gets released.

Peyton Manning

Just watched this movie, and it is simply breath taking. I absolutely loved it, and while I understand the OP's crossover comparison, I see it as more of a polished The Butterfly Effect with a dab of The Fountain.

Great performances all round - Leto is great, Kruger is lovable and Rhys Ifans does a stellar job. I enjoyed it so much, and the soundtrack is one of the best around.

Patricide

Fantastic film, and an even better soundtrack. Its just a pity there arent more films like this around.

legrandemac

Totally agree, great film. Picked it up myself recently and wasnt sure what to expect. Thought it would be a bit too indie or surreal but was presented with a brilliantly acted wonderfully paced gem. It had everything, absolutely amazing cinematography, fantastic colours, touching storylines. Really good stuff.

On a side note another fantasy that received much acclaim recently (the blue smurfs/dances with wolves one!) couldnt touch this sort of filmmaking with a barge pole. Shame really that most will miss this but drool over that! Thats the way it goes I suppose, its great when you find a gem such as this though!

mgsrocks

I saw this a few weeks ago and though it was brilliant. Great soundtrack and some superb special effects. The mars scenes really stand out for me.

Anyone know where to pick up the english dvd/bluray? The only place I can find online is amazon france.

MickShamrock

Just watched a trailer on youtube and it does look like something I'd be interested in. Will have to check it out.

Phony Scott

Saw it tonight. I hate offending the posters above, but this is a film which you either love or loathe, and I very much loathed it. Granted, the special effects along with the make-up and Jared Leto’s performance were sublime, but everything else, particularly the insulting twist ending, were awful. It’s pseudo intellectual nonsense of the highest order. 2/10

Patricide

The thing I liked about it was that the ending really wasn't a twist. Its more like there are different ways to see the film.

I also loved the way that it shows that even the smallest choices you make can effect the rest of your life.

Phony Scott

Patricide wrote: »

Its more like there are different ways to see the film.

Maybe I've got it completely wrong but I felt that there was only one way to see the film; where everything that happened

were possible life choices inside a nine year olds head

. But that doesn't make a lick of sense to me. In essence the film is telling you that

this nine year old child is super intelligent and knows about things like entropy and string theory and incest!

0_o The explanation for this, if you're willing to buy into it, is that

blundering angels gifted this boy with said knowledge

.

For me, at the end of the day, hard sci-fi (which this tries to do) and fantasy do not mix. Give me one or the other, not both together.

Patricide

Phony Scott wrote: »

Maybe I've got it completely wrong but I felt that there was only one way to see the film; where everything that happened

were possible life choices inside a nine year olds head

. But that doesn't make a lick of sense to me. In essence the film is telling you that

this nine year old child is super intelligent and knows about things like entropy and string theory and incest!

0_o The explanation for this, if you're willing to buy into it, is that

blundering angels gifted this boy with said knowledge

.

For me, at the end of the day, hard sci-fi (which this tries to do) and fantasy do not mix. Give me one or the other, not both together.

Well I see it as an old man whos thinking back on his life about 3 possible ways it could have played out. His memory is such that he cant remember which one is real and which ones were his imagination.

The string theory bits were for me just additional parts added in that reinforce this view. That the smallest actions change our lives in major ways.

I wouldn't call this a sci-fy film, nor a fantasy film. Its more of a character film. Or how the same person (Nemo in this case) can be 3 different personalities deepening on his or her surroundings.

But this is just my way of looking at the film.

Phony Scott

Patricide wrote: »

Well I see it as an old man whos thinking back on his life about 3 possible ways it could have played out. His memory is such that he cant remember which one is real and which ones were his imagination.

But the old man doesn't exist. He only exists inside the boys imagination. The old mans exact words at the end are "You don't exist, neither do I, we only live inside the imagination of a nine year old child."

Phony Scott

Patricide wrote: »

Its more of a character film.

As a character piece, I found it to be deeply frustrating. Yes, in hindsight what you're saying is fine, but if we watched the film together for the first time and the film was paused thirty minutes in and I asked you to define each of the characters, you'd struggle to do it. The characters weren't defined, which, for me anyway, made it impossible to engage emotionally with them. It's not until about an hour in until the characters begin to make sense and at that point I simply didn't care for any of them.

Patricide

Phony Scott wrote: »

But the old man doesn't exist. He only exists inside the boys imagination. The old mans exact words at the end are "You don't exist, neither do I, we only live inside the imagination of a nine year old child."

One way to that line would be literal. I took it more figuratively.

"We are all imagined by a 9 year old child faced with an impossible choice"

I seen that line more like after an impossible choice we live on in our own minds, always thinking back to the decision we made. That we will always think back to this point and say, "what if".

I know, maybe the way I interpreted the film was a bit odd ball but there is more than one way to appreciate this movie.

Phony Scott

Patricide wrote: »

I know, maybe the way I interpreted the film was a bit odd ball but there is more than one way to appreciate this movie.

Otherwise, if you go down the way I interpreted the movie, "you are entering a world of pain Donny" :pac:

Peyton Manning

Phony Scott wrote: »

In essence the film is telling you that

this nine year old child is super intelligent and knows about things like entropy and string theory and incest!

I think you're missing or forgetting one of the most important scenes of the movie where

Nemo tells his mother at the dinner table that he can see into the future. It wasn't just a random thing he was saying, he was telling the truth, hence why in the end he runs away from both his mother and father at the train station.

Patricide

Phony Scott wrote: »

Otherwise, if you go down the way I interpreted the movie, "you are entering a world of pain Donny" :pac:

God dam, now I have to watch the big lebowski now..... Thanks

Phony Scott

Archimedes wrote: »

I think you're missing or forgetting one of the most important scenes of the movie where

Nemo tells his mother at the dinner table that he can see into the future. It wasn't just a random thing he was saying, he was telling the truth, hence why in the end he runs away from both his mother and father at the train station.

I don't think I missed that. In hindsight it reiterates what was said in

the scene with the angels. The whole thing with the angels pretty much tells you that this kid knows everything. And when he says everything, he means everything. That means the past, present and future.

Again, it is as simplistic and literal as that.

opr

This blew my face off!

Even if you do believe its pseudo intellectual nonsense how someone cannot appreciate the craft that went into this film is beyond me. I mean it is visually stunning and the director showcases an amazing array of talents with cinematography that is breathtaking at times. The film has faults and many but I couldn't have admired it or loved it any less even if it had ended with Doctor Who showing up in the Tardis. That was some treat for a boring Thursday afternoon, thanks OP.

Opr

Phony Scott

opr wrote: »

Even if you do believe its pseudo intellectual nonsense how someone cannot appreciate the craft that went into this film is beyond me.

For the record, I never dismissed the films artistic elements:

Phony Scott wrote: »

Granted, the special effects along with the make-up and Jared Leto’s performance were sublime [...]

But, for me anyway, it is pseudo intellectual nonsense and so far no-one has convinced me that it is the opposite.

opr

Phony Scott wrote: »

But, for me anyway, it is pseudo intellectual nonsense and so far no-one has convinced me that it is the opposite.

My point is even if you do believe this and I couldn't be bothered arguing otherwise. If you just look at the film as a means of the director show casing his considerable talent in direction, invention, cinematography its a joy to watch. Even if I believed the film material was rubbish it was so well crafted on a superficial level that I could have let it flow over me and immensely enjoyed the visual treat which was this film. I fully see how people will have problems with the film but to pass the good off as having so little bearing to give it 2/10 is ridiculous in my eyes.

Opr

Skerries

Eternal Butterfly of the Spotless Fountain

Phony Scott

opr wrote: »

If you just look at the film as a means of the director show casing his considerable talent in direction, invention, cinematography its a joy to watch. Even if I believed the film material was rubbish it was so well crafted on a superficial level that I could have let it flow over me and immensely enjoyed the visual treat which was this film. I fully see how people will have problems with the film but to pass the good off as having so little bearing to give it 2/10 is ridiculous in my eyes.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with any film being superficial, but the visuals need to have some weight behind them. People elsewhere compare this film to ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,’ ‘Big Fish,’ ‘Being John Malkovich,’ and a dozen other films. The difference between this film and those is that the visuals actually meant something as opposed to the ones offered here. The visuals in this film are random, shallow and meaningless. I find that impossible to enjoy.

Even the effects in ‘Transformers’ were more meaningful in a very rudimentary way (they are robots, they change shape to disguise themselves). ‘Transformers’ was also a lot more original in its special effects. I had never seen effects like that done before on the big screen. Yes, there was that Citroen television advert which started it off, but ‘Transformers’ took that effect much further forward. ‘Mr. Nobody’ pilfers from the above mentioned films and any Hieronymus Bosch painting you care to mention. I’ve seen it all before and I consider it very lazily filmmaking and far from inventive, hence 2/10.

opr

My god I am not talking about special effects. I'll leave you to play with your transformers.

Opr

Phony Scott

opr wrote: »

I'll leave you to play with your transformers.

If you don't want have a constructive argument, fine, we'll agree to disagree, but there's no call to be rude about it.

johnny_ultimate

opr wrote: »

My god I am not talking about special effects. I'll leave you to play with your transformers.

Opr

I'm sure it is possible to discuss this without insults / hostility. Careful now, down with this sort of thing etc...

Galvasean

Especially when one of the Films mods also mods Transformers... Just sayin'.

opr

Fair enough sorry it was a cheap shot. I guess listening to someone nonsensically ramble on about Transformers and some Citron add then fire in Hieronymus Bosch name and extrapolate from all this that its lazy film making had me up in arms.

Firstly it was back in 1991 his first film "Toto the Hero" when the guy was first praised and acclaimed for his wonderful abilities as a director. The much talked about floating plastic bag stuff from "American Beauty" is widely regarded as being taken straight from this film's unforgettable final scenes. He was nominated for numerous awards winning the golden camera award at Cannes. His follow-up "The Eighth Day" was in 1996 which was again nominated and won a number of awards. He was herald as a inventive, technical genius with incredible talent as a director. So maybe you will forgive me for the derision when I see you spouting stuff about Michael ****ing Bay and Transformers.

This latest film was the guys life long passion and was over 10 years in the writing and making so to call it lazy again just leaves me sighing heavily. Even the harshest of critics have again recognised the guys incredible talent in creating a film which is amazing from a technical, stylistic and visual point of view.

Opr

Phony Scott

You make it difficult to accept that apology, but I’ll confess a few faults of my own.

‘Transformers’ was a bad example to use, because Michael Bay still makes people like you (and admittedly me) irate, but I don’t see how the example is ‘nonsensical’. The rest of the board can decide that.

I did ignore you mentioning the cinematography, which I could go into, but when you talk about ‘the visuals’ and ‘the superficiality’ of the film, it also includes the special effects and is not just limited to cinematography.

I didn’t know it took him ten years to come up with the film, so, yes he put effort into the film and calling it lazily in that regard was bad, but the visuals did nothing for me for all the reasons I’ve mentioned. I haven’t seen ‘Toto the Hero’ but I’ll check it out.

As for the rating, maybe it was flippant on my part, and I’ll agree to watch the film again to see if I got it totally wrong, but it will be a long time before I see it again.

JJJJNR

Excellent film, love this forum.