Blog - Nothing
Nothing
Yesterday we went to Cine Saison Shibuya and saw "Nothing", the latest film by Canadian Vincenzo Natali. Having greatly loved "Cube" and "Cypher", I had high expectations.
(Possible spoilers are in white on white, select with mouse if you wish to read.)
I thought the concept of "Nothing" was great, two best friends ending trapped in nothing, and so were the visuals and acting. The movie has a high level of light-hearted playfulness and imagination, and made for a fun watch.
On the down side, I don't feel I'd want to see it again as much as I do for "Cube" and "Cypher". It sure is a unique film, but to me it lacked on the final satisfaction, probably because of my initial expectations. I would have liked for it to be more full of surprises like "Cube", and also to have a surprising ending, but this would have went against the concept of nothingness so I have to understand.
If you see it, be sure to watch past the end credits. That final part gave me at least a bit of hope that something would happen someday in nothing, but left me really wanting to know what it was. Any hope for a "Nothing 2"? If I'd have seen this film in a theater in Canada I probably wouldn't have stayed during the credits, but the Japanese public always stays still until lights are on, and sometimes, like this time, I'm glad I do.
The movie did make me a bit hungry for a "making of", just to know the secret of the white stuff.
Before the movie was presented the NFB/ONF short animated film "Ryan" by Chris Landreth. The 3D computer-animated film is a sort of documentary about Montreal animator Ryan Larkin who also created some short films for the ONF in the late-60's/early-70's.
Having grown up on a lot of ONF shorts, as when I was a kid there used to be a cable channel which would let you order by phone anything by the ONF that you wanted to see, ONF-sponsored stuff has a special place in my heart.
At Cine Saison, we could see the movie for ¥1000 instead of ¥1500 because we brought pictures of things we'd want to be left in an empty world. They're now displayed in the lobby, so if you go, look for Tamo-san. :)
Also I bought my advance ticket to Shaolin Kyonshi, and received some post-it notes shaped and printed like the yellow talisman used to immobilize kyonshi!! The trailer was also played (by the way... TOO many previews!! we got about half an hour!) and it looks like real kyonshi madness, with thousands of them! The movie starts November 12.
I'm waiting for some great kyonshi stuff in the mail, and will show it off when it arrives.
Posted on October 9, 2005 at 15:00 | Tweet
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i really liked "ryan" when i saw it here last year at the golden horse film festival(it won some award in the digital shorts competition and then of course went on to win an oscar).
funny that the japanese stay until the end of the credits, here you usually don't have a choice as the theaters rarely will even show all the credits before turning up the lights and rewinding the film.
Posted by william on October 11, 2005 at 12:04
Oh good, I was thinking about the movie "nothing" if it's any good. :) I will watch it then.
Posted by Atsuko on October 11, 2005 at 22:01
I saw this on DVD and agree on many of your points.
Not as rewatchable as his previous efforts, but very fun and the idea was great.
Posted by Toshiaki on October 13, 2005 at 13:14