Mr. Nobody (2013)

One of my all time favorites.

Did you people see the same film I saw?

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

What if your true love never crossed your path because you made a different decision? In essence, this is the film. It is a study in paradoxes and time travel, also encompassing whether reality is real or imagination, and vice versa. Don't worrry, this review will not spoil it for you. There are no words to describe Nemo Nobody's adolescent love affair, which is so idyllic yet also typical, for the time it is permitted to thrive. There are also no words to describe the betrayal and loss Nemo experiences in the course of his interdimensional travels.The casting couldn't be better. Furthermore, there are no conflicts of interest between storytelling and moviemaking. The politics of today do not enter, no distractions from Left or Right, meaning you can relax and let the writing, acting, directing, and effects wash over you as pure cinema.In the 155 minute version I saw, some elements seemed extraneous, but not to excess, and therefore it retains a 10 score in my book.

It makes me feel different than others. I can't even see any bad point, you know some movies make it and that's the mine.

"Mr. Nobody" - well, the title is admittedly a little strange, but this movie will appeal to the more open-minded moviegoer, in the first place. This is by far the best film (yes, a piece like this is definitely more than just a movie) I've seen in a long while. It might not be officially classified as an epic, but I personally would disagree. "Mr. Nobody" has all the hallmarks of a wonderful film wrapped in a unique package, and yet, it's extremely hard to explain basic plot lines in this story. Therefore, I will go big picture, and just say this: "Mr. Nobody" is about life, and time, and all the choices we make, or don't make. Broad? You bet. But it's the only way to properly discuss this film (which also features a great and eclectic soundtrack).In short, I would say that this is a bit of a mashup between "Okja", and the early work of Tim Burton (circa Edward Scissorhands, 1990), but the ideas and concepts it explores are all its own. The colors are vivid, the cinematography is well done, and the character development (though there are many characters and plotlines, included in a mostly non-linear fashion) is absolutely spot-on. Honestly, I don't know if I've ever watched a more original film. I do recommend, however, the following tips when watching:*This is a film that truly deserves your attention. Keep the distractions to a minimum for the best experience (even though you'll want to watch it over again once you finish) *Watch this with at least one person, if possible. This is literally the best movie I've watched so far this year. I only turned it off about 15 minutes ago and I have the urge to turn it back on, AND recommend it to everyone I know. (Including you, IMDB people! :) Seriously, you won't be sorry.

Ever see a film that you actually can't really, properly describe to someone? You often hear "it's hard to describe", but you know those ones where you really do find yourself short of a five second cocktail party summary, left with nothing to compare it to and no way to impart the contents in quick, succinct jargon? Jaco Van Dormael's Mr. Nobody is exactly that type of film, an experience so dense, disorienting and thought provoking that one needs at least a few months after the initial viewing alone to ruminate, mull it over and meditate on what was seen before even a word of analysis is offered. On surface level it's about a man named Nemo Nobody, played by Jared Leto in a jaw dropping, multifaceted encore of a performance. Nemo is over a hundred years old, the last mortal on an earth of now immortal humans, and he recounts his life, or many lives, rather, to a journalist. That's the diving board that vaults into an intricate narrative full of love, grief, joy, tragedy and the peculiarities of being human. We see Nemo at hundreds of junctures of his life, penultimate crossroads where he could make either choice, but if he makes neither of them, can then see both outcomes, how they carry forward his trajectory into the future towards more crossroads, more lives, more decisions, like the infinitely branching tributaries of an ever flowing river. How would one make a film like this work onscreen, you ask? Well, not easily. The thing runs almost three hours and often gets a little caught up in itself, especially in the midsection, but it's sheer ambition and uniquely structured storytelling carry it on wings of light, spanning through a hundred years and countless events that Nemo sees passing. He has three loves, or at least three the film focuses on: luminous Ana, played by an excellent Juno Temple and then Diane Kruger as she gets older, mentally unstable Elise (Sarah Polley) and Jean (Linh Dan Pham), all of whom help shape him or have key parts to play along the branches of his tree of life. There's a lynchpin event from his youth upon which it all hinges though; faced with the decision to move away with his mother (Natasha Little) as her train leaves, or stay behind with his father (Rhys Ifans), the boy begins to run, but also looks back. This nano-moment is the key to eternity here, the introspective Big Bang that gives way to our story. At times the film lags, and the slack could have been pulled tighter during the development of the three relationships, but the first and third acts that bookend the whole thing move along like the forces unseen around us, using cinematic tools to compose a symphony of motion, music, scientific pondering and emotional resonance. No other film is like this one, and my attempts to describe it above still just don't even scratch the surface of the dreams found within its runtime. There's only a few other ones out there that have aspirations as cosmic as this one, and most, including this, have made it into my personal canon of favourites. Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain, The Wachowski's Cloud Atlas and Terence Malick's Tree Of Life are such films, and Mr. Nobody now sits at their table.