Let's (Not) Go Out To The Movies: The Zero Theorem (R - Amplify - 1 hr,46 mins)

Directed by Terry Gilliam
Written by Pat Rushin

Alo Party Peoples.

Sweet buttery Jesus, are we still in the annual dead zone? Is the only big release this weekend a kids movie about a dolphin with a prosthetic tail fin? Has my Doctor Who column failed to attract any real readership, and in fact has less readers with each post? The answer to all of those questions is yes, so it's time to do another on demand release.

The Zero Theorem is like Lucy in the sense that it is a bizarre, frequently beautiful, stylistically director driven, arthouse sci-fi movie, but unlike Lucy, it might have an actual point to make, or at least a comprehensible point. Namely, one about the big advance of the 21st Century so far.

Our story concerns Christoph Waltz as one Qohen Leth, a computer programmer in a dystopic future where nearly all human interaction has been confined to cyberspace, to the extent that the physical world seems to be crumbling around him. He's trying to get a disability charge so he can do his coding from home. This is for two reasons. 1) He never interacts with his coworkers anyway, so he feels there is no reason for him to bother with the formality of an office, and 2) so he doesn't miss a phone call that he thinks will tell him the meaning of his life. Since the film portrays him as an interchangeable part of the corporate machine, he is even referred to as a "tool" on multiple occasions, I can see why he would want such a call.

One day, management informs him that he gets his wish, but on the condition that he takes on a certain project for them. Providing a proof of the titular "zero theorem", a theoretical math equation in which zero equals one hundred percent, proving that all is for nothing, and that life has no meaning. Into the mix come Lucas Hedges as Bob, management's computer whiz teenage son who is also looking for a meaning in life, and Mélanie Thierry as Bainsley, a woman hired to arouse Qohen out of his delusions.

The Zero Theorem is a tragedy concerned with the way that our modern digital world can make one feel quite small. The way it can seem that people are little more than integers in one great machine, and that we are insignificant amid the torrent of data we are constantly surrounded by. Like all is for nothing. I'm not sure it quite articulates that point, but it at least knows what it's trying to say.

The assembled cast is terrific, Christoph Waltz perfectly sells the mannerisms of a man that has locked himself up surrounded by screens waiting for someone to hand him a purpose for existence. Mélanie Thierry is a scarily compelling onscreen presence, although at times it feels like the only reasons she's here is because that makes it easy for certain scenes to feel like they're about to turn into a pornographic film at any moment.

The whole film takes place on intricately detailed and elaborate sets, portraying a sort of dystopic neon-cyberpunk urban decay, and Terry Gilliam's direction takes full advantage of them, it's something that has to be seen to be believed. The way it depicts programming is a strange and strangely plausible new interface composed of vertically oriented screens, tablet/game controller hybrids in place of keyboards, and an operating system that resembles a mix between Tetris and a flight simulator. Anyone else headed to the Oscars for Production Design should just stay home.

The Zero Theorem is a movie that has big game to talk, but doesn't hit it out of the park. It is an ambitious work, but parts of it feel like it is too constrained by budget for it's own ambitions, and it doesn't quite make sense by the end. It already got a theatrical run in various parts of the world, but just came out on demand in the United States before a limited theatrical release next weekend. What's my verdict? It is a spectacularly assembled movie, and you should give it a chance, if for no other reason than you probably won't find anything else like it.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B