Nothing (2003)

Very well executed

Undescribable Perfection

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Great Film overall

The biggest flaw is that the film takes a comic approach to things, rather than putting 'real' characters and events into the film. Even in the film's first 20 minutes, in the 'real' world, we get nothing even resembling reality- from bad computer effects and animation to absurdly written minor characters and situations. Comedy, by its nature, divorces empathy from a viewer. Laughter AT a character is always more satisfying for most viewers than laughing with a character; but this necessarily dehumanizes the character, making empathy near impossible, and sans empathy, a whole horde of tools that an artist has, to manipulate a viewer intellectually and emotionally is gone. On the plus side, actors Hewlett (who looks like a younger Jon Lindstrom- actor of soap opera fame) and Miller, do well with the mediocre stuff they are given. Miller's transformation from obsequious nerd to insensitive boob is funny, but Hewlett's is the better character, and the only one to evince any form of empathy, in the scene where Andrew tricks Dave into thinking he committed suicide.Nothing is one of those films that will stick with a viewer for a while, if only because it will leave scenarios open to be 'reworked' in each viewer's mind. But, given the title and the tone and arc of the film, its ending is all too predictable, in the worst sense of the term. Yet, given how little thought is given to most films these days- Hollywood, independent, foreign, or domestic, I guess one should be grateful for what little is received, especially coming from a film that only promises Nothing.

Nothing as an idea had huge potential, but the movie just didn't quite pull it off. First of all, there is no reason ever given to why these guys suddenly have this power to wish away everything they hate. Immediately they wish away everything but their house (because they're reclusive agoraphobic nerds) which sort of writes the Writer into a corner. It doesn't take long for the characters to explore nothing and then learn to live in it & enjoy it. Instead the characters could have spent a lot more time in the normal world exercising this new power slowly throughout the movie until maybe toward the end there is Nothing. This would have had a more satisfying storyline as the viewer could sort of feel like they're vicariously vanishing life's problems along with the character, only to learn the moral is that if you don't learn to live with your problems, you'll eventually wish away EVERYTHING....just an idea.

I'd give this piece of crap a 0 but I am forced to give it a 1 as it's the lowest permitted. This is a piece of garbage. Worse. A piece of garbage. Worse! All the jerky camera movements made me feel like barfing, not to mention the horrible and ULTRA annoying "acting". The best actor was the damned turtle. The plot? SUCKED! You don't care for the characters. They are retarded. You want them to die. You want this stupid college artsy-fartsy thing to end. You press the "stop" button about 30 minutes in; you at least give it a chance. After returning the rental back to the store you give the clerk an earful and spit on her face. Then you never EVER mention it again; you don't even recommend it to your enemies.

Tweaked a little bit, 'Nothing' could be a children's film. It's a very clever concept, touches upon some interesting metaphysical themes, and goes against pretty much every Hollywood convention you can think of...what goes against everything more than, literally, "nothing"? Nothing is the story of two friends who wish the world away when everything goes wrong with their lives. All that's left is what they don't hate, and a big empty white space. It's hard to focus a story on just two actors for the majority of your film, especially without any cuts to anything going on outside the plot. It focuses on pretty much one subject, but that's prime Vincenzo Natali territory. If you've seen 'Cube', you know already that he tends to like that type of situation. The "nothing" in this movie is apparently infinite space, but Natali somehow manages to make it somewhat claustrophobic, if only because there's literally nothing else, and nowhere else to go. The actors sell it, although you can tell these guys are friends anyway. Two actors from 'Cube' return here (Worth and Kazan), but are entirely different characters. They change throughout the story, and while they're not the strongest actors in the world, they're at least believable.The reason I say this could be a children's film under the right tweaks, is because aside from a few f-bombs and a somewhat unnecessary bloody dream sequence, the whimsical and often silly feel of this movie could very much be digested easily by kids. So I find it an odd choice that the writers decided to add some crass language and a small amount of gore, especially considering there isn't very much of it. This could've gotten a PG rating easily had they simply cut a few things out and changed a little dialogue. There is very little objectionable about this film, but just enough to keep parents from wanting their kids to see it. I only say that's a shame because not because I support censorship, but because that may have been the only thing preventing this movie from having wider exposure.At any rate, this is a reasonably entertaining film, albeit with a few dragged-out scenes. But for literally being about nothing, and focused entirely on two characters and their interactions with absolutely nothing, they do a surprisingly good job for an independent film.