Mr

Mr. Nobody

Jared Leto, Sarah Polley

“Before we go, have you heard of Schrodinger’s cat?” – Leonard

“Oh, I have heard more than enough about Schrodinger’s cat.” – Penny, “Big Bang Theory”

It is one of my favorite stories. On June 2, 1932, on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio, Mitchell Siegel, a 60-year-old Jewish immigrant who ran a second hand clothing store, was working late. At 8:10 p.m., three men entered the store. A gunshot rang out. Mitchell Siegel collapsed to the floor dead. The men scattered. No one was ever arrested. Mitchell had six children at home. The youngest one was named Jerome. Never heard of Jerome “Jerry” Siegel? You should have. Jerry Siegel, along with his friend and artist Joe Shuster, created perhaps the greatest fictional character and American icon of all time, Superman. You do not need a degree in psychology to make the connection. Superman, the ultimate hero, the man who righted all wrongs, was born out of the pain of a little boy who wished his daddy was bulletproof. Any doubt of a connection to a little boy’s grief and the creation of the Man of Steel, Kal-El (which is close to the Hebrew word for “voice of God”), disappears if you read the next day’s Cleveland Plain Dealer. There is a letter to the editor against taking the law into your own hands signed by a Mr. A.L. Luther. Jerry never talked about his father’s murder. In all the interviews he granted he never once mentioned it. The larger world never knew of the crime until many years after his death. In fact, he spun the story that Superman was invented to meet girls. Yet, out of vulnerability, came Superman. You live long enough, you have a lot of people in your life you care about that are in a lot of spiritual and psychological pain and you wish, like Jerry Siegel, they could take it and produce something wonderful. It would be nice to believe that everyone could do that.

Telling that story is a strange way to begin a movie review, but Mr. Nobody is one of the strangest movies I have seen in years. To even try to give a coherent account of the non-linear plot is almost impossible. It makes the scripts of “Lost” look like they were written by a piker. The movie opens in the year 2092 in a city of stupendous skyscrapers. The oldest man in the world (Leto) is about to die in the hospital. With advances in technology, he is also the last man who will ever die of old age. His doctor, whose head is covered in black geometric, almost tribal looking, tattoos, has no clue who he is. A small camera hovers just over the doctor’s head transmitting his interview with Nemo to a world fascinated by him. They want to know his story. One little problem, his story is confusing and quite frankly impossible, a jumbled mess. He claims to have been born on February 9, 1975, but also is just 34 years old. He claims his name is Nemo Nobody, a man who does not exist. At key events, he seemingly makes each and every decision possible. As a child, much like John Lennon, he has to choose between living with his father or mother. He has to go with one or the other. Nemo chooses both. He tells of three separate marriages to three separate women all at the same time, all of which cannot have occurred. Nemo has seemingly led several different lives. Who is Nemo Nobody? A dying old man? A teenager? A Child? A successful businessman? A bum sleeping on a park bench? A loving husband? Did he wed Jean, Anna or Elise? Are these the wandering thoughts of someone in the grips of senility? Could this all be the dreams of a child imagining what life would be like with this parent or that parent? If he chose to love this girl, or that one? Is he really at the end of the twenty-first century or did he die young? Can all be true? None of them? If things go wrong because of one decision can we rewind time and take a different path? The only thing audiences know for sure is Nemo is not afraid of dying. He is afraid he has not been alive enough.

The closest American audiences have to this type of storytelling is 12 Monkeys, Slaughterhouse 5, Vanilla Sky or Sliding Doors. In many ways it reminds me of a sci-fi television show out of South Africa that almost no one in the United States has seen called “Charlie Jade.” It is a movie that takes several viewings to fully understand. What appears random and garbled is really a story of possibilities and the butterfly effect theory. (The term butterfly effect comes from the Ray Bradbury story “A Sound of Thunder” in which a butterfly killed during the time of dinosaurs can cause the future to change in ways never imagined or a butterfly flapping its wings causes a hurricane half way across the world.) The movie also draws heavily on Schrodinger’s cat, along with theories of quantum paradox ad parallel universes. In a nutshell, every time a person makes a decision, reality, or the universe splits in two. Billions of people making trillions of decisions, creating more universe than can be counted. Thus, countless different version of you can exist simultaneously at the same time living out every possible outcome of your life. Anyone familiar with Nietzsche will also recognize threads of his thought. Then, can a person change the world by not choosing?

It is enough to make your head hurt and there in lies the clue for whether you should go to this film. If you are one of those individuals that resonate with the line from an old Statler Brothers song, “True Grit’s the only movie I have understood in years,” then this movie is certainly not for you. If you have ever turned to someone to ask what is happening, or who that character on the screen was, avoid this film, because if I am sitting near you I will punch you in the back of the head. It is a movie that cannot be watched while folding clothes, typing on the laptop, or texting your best friend. It demands your full attention. Mr. Nobody is a film in which you must actively pay attention, not be a passive sponge. At one point in the movie there are four dream sequences going on at the same time. While it is complex, if one pays attention it is never confusing. The movie just flows visually like a river that carries you where it will. Much like the last episode of “Lost,” things only make sense when the last scene is done.

Mr. Nobody is a gorgeous science fiction epic with all the actors at the top of their game. It is easy to see why it is the most expensive film ever made in Denmark at a cost of just under $50 million. Writer and Director Jaco van Dormael (The Eighth Day, Between Heaven and Earth, Love Reinvented) has made the best science fiction film since Sam Rockwell’s Moon was released last year. The cast is extremely talented with supporting roles being played by Sarah Polley (“John Adams,” “Slings and Arrows”), Rhys Ifans (Greenburg, Notting Hill, Vanity Fair) and Diane Kruger (Joyeux Noel, National Treasure, Inglorious Bastards) are all at the top of their games. Jared Leto (Lord of War, Chapter 27, Lonely Hearts) has quietly become one of the best actors of his generation and much like Norman Rockwell, does not get the credit he deserves. He is one big movie away from being a household name. Sadly, given the unique nature of Mr. Nobody, it will not be this film. Although I suspect that it will become a cult film with a small, but dedicated audience. Remember the tagline, “Nothing is real, everything is possible.” For you and me, and maybe for Nemo this is not true. Let’s hope we make the right decision like Jerry Siegel.

Verdict: Best Sci-Fi Film of the Year