Notes from Underground (1995)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I love this book. It was my bible for years from high school on. Notes From Underground (what happened to the *The*? My text versions always included it) was arguably the first truly modern psychological ontological existential novel, the forerunner to, among other things, Catcher in the Rye & many of Woody Allen's better works.This movie, on the other hand, comes off as nothing more than a very lame imitation of a Steve Martin routine. The lead even looks like Steve Martin but the ancillary characters are barely cardboard in substance. What should have been wryly & universally satirical simply becomes high-school sophomoric.A dreadful disappointment.

I loved this movie. It is dark, but well acted and I thought quite hilarious (in a life isn't always so great--I wish I could do that kind of way). Henry Czerny possesses such an intensity, "victim" portrayal and convincing self-hatred; it is not difficult to understand why he acts as he does (even though the past wrongs done to him are vague).Anyone who has experienced alienation from a group or hating who they are/what they were doing but couldn't stop the compulsion to cease their behavior, will be able to relate and appreciate the dark humor of this film. I caught it on IFC years ago by accident and my sister and I were both so unexpectedly drawn to the film we could not turn the channel!

For anyone who has read Dostoevsky's novel upon which this film is based, they will be pleasantly surprised to find that Gary Walkow has done a superb job of adapting it to the screen and placing the story in a modern context. Of course, those who haven't read the book will not be disappointed--it stands on its own as a relentless critique of (post)modernity and an examination of forms of all-inscribing social control that permeate one human being's alienated existence. The Underground Man (played brilliantly by Henry Czerny) is, in his own words, "a sick man". In every interaction he sees only the potential to dominate or be dominated; human relations for him are a disease. He is spiteful, frightened, and ashamed of his condition and his perceived inability to change. In order to mitigate the sting of such painfully acute self-awareness/self-consciousness, the Underground Man creates a video diary, in which he records his "confessions" about his interactions with others. These "confessions", while "sincere" expressions of self-loathing and a tortuous desire to change, end up being ultimately dishonest--he cannot even finish some entries because of his awareness that confessions for an unseen "audience" provide him with nothing but shallow comfort and artificial relief.In the film we see the Underground Man fantasize about becoming the strong, desirable, upright person he wishes to become, only to later criticize these fantasies and his reliance upon the very constructs or images of "strong", "desirable", and "upright" he so despises. It is the perceived irreducibility of this cycle that causes him to feel ashamed of his helpless condition. However, he is also plagued by guilt: somehow he sees within himself the ability to change. His intimate knowledge of the reducibility of "consciousness" forces him to acknowledge that man remains, in the words of Sartre, "condemned to freedom."Again, this film marvelously realizes Dostoevsky's vision in its portrayal of the Underground Man. Sheryl Lee's talent in the role of Liza, the prostitute, is highlighted as well. Jon Favreau, in a rare pre-"Swingers" performance, plays Zirkov, the Underground Man's more successful college acquaintance. Seth Green also appears in this early indie film.This film (and the book, of course) come highly recommended, with 10 stars. One's perception of the world and of interactions with others cannot possibly be left unaffected by Walkow's brilliant adaptation and Czerny's performance.

Do not walk, run to the video store and rent this movie. Whoever had the idea and courage to bring this vision to screen should have won big awards and big bucks. Special thanks to Sheryl Lee for a great performance.This film portrays a side of humanity that is never explored by Hollywood because it doesn't make you feel good. Gary Walkow has directed and film for adults that offers a kind of redemption that comes from looking at hard truths.He's either nuts to create such a movie in the middle of an industry that is busy turning out mindless fare for teen age boys or he's courageous to put out a film where good actors create a mirror that reveals the stain on our modern souls.Look at the United States, we're becoming a nation of overweight dim wits from a steady diet of junk food and junk movies. Where are the writers and performers working to imagine ourselves into a better future, a stronger vision of who we are?A handful of them created this film; honor their courage by viewing it.