THE ZERO THEOREM (2014) Director: Terry Gilliam Cast: Christoph Waltz, Mélanie Thierry, David Thewlis, Lucas Hedges, Tilda Swinton, Ben Whishaw Ever since I heard that Terry Gilliam was making The Zero Theorem I have been waiting with bated breath as I am an avid fan of his. Terry Gilliam’s latest head trip into steampunk/candy-cane/microdot future shock is “The Zero Theorem,” starring Christoph Waltz as a sort of worker-bee mathematician toiling away on a kind of philosophical-doomsday equation for a mysterious corporation. In the name of the holy metaphor, key components of the film are studiously undefined (What exactly is his job? What does the corporation do? What does [fill in the blank] mean?). Big Issues are discussed, but the human anchor needed for an emotional hook becomes unmoored without specificity. That’s no knock on the acting — the film’s quality of conversation piece rather than visceral experience appears to be a filmmaking choice. It would be too harsh to say the sum equals zero, but that’s not far beyond the margin of error. Terry Gilliam’s latest head trip into steampunk/candy-cane/microdot future shock is “The Zero Theorem,” starring Christoph Waltz as a sort of worker-bee mathematician toiling away on a kind of philosophical-doomsday equation for a mysterious corporation. Sound vague? It’s even vaguer than that. In the name of the holy metaphor, key components of the film are studiously undefined (What exactly is his job? What does the corporation do? What does [fill in the blank] mean?). Big Issues are discussed, but the human anchor needed for an emotional hook becomes unmoored without specificity. That’s no knock on the acting — the film’s quality of conversation piece rather than visceral experience appears to be a filmmaking choice. Then there’s plenty to converse about. Two interesting threads run through “Zero”: the practical tension between faith and science, and, mostly, the notion that a mathematical formula could define the meaning of existence. Heady stuff, but in the hands of an iconoclastic stylist, it could be fun. Unfortunately, what faint human element the dry script provides withers under the fish-eye lenses, the Dutch angles, the audio assault. The brilliant production design, with all its visual wit, takes primacy over human moments. Which is a shame, because the always-interesting Waltz provides a perfectly relatable — dare we say human — performance. His version of a dystopian everyman is a neurotic genius trying to escape the noise of the external world. And who wouldn’t, given “Zero’s” vision of “Blade Runner” meets Chuck E. Cheese, with surveillance cameras? Whatever emotional damage Waltz’s Qohen (pronounced “Cohen”) has sustained might be repaired by the receipt of a mysterious phone call he thinks will explain his purpose in life. That belief marks him as what passes for a man of faith in this buzzing and blinking world; he even lives in a repurposed cathedral, in case his function was unclear. Speaking of function, there’s a love interest/femme fatale/distraction (the appealing Mélanie Thierry) and a youngster (Lucas Hedges) who creates a semblance of familial bond while also facilitating certain plot points. The enigmatic authority figure (“Management”) is embodied by Matt Damon, as the future version of Matt Damon. There is some cool stuff, especially a bit about visually solving mathematical quandaries with a block-puzzle video game interface. But even with those elements, “Zero” feels too much like a philosophical exercise. One suspects the Wachowskis were in the bidding for this one. Gilliam presents non-lead figures as grotesques and shoots the world in a distorted mirror, and there are moments of calculated absurdity, but “Zero Theorem” doesnt play as a comedy. Not even a Chekhovian comedy, which is often more of a tragedy with laughs of bitter recognition. “Zero” is more of an intellectual exercise in which you’re never given all the variables to solve the problem — and then you find your calculator was on acid the whole time anyway. I know most of this is vague , shadowy and negative but I Still like it a lot. It is a thinking persons movie to be watched two three or more times each time learning something new which gives a greater insight to the plot as there are loads of hidden meanings stored away what is the phone call that Qohen has been waiting for all his life could it be his final call death? Ill e watching this again and again just like Brazil Im hooked.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 17:24:43 +0000
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