Karlovy Vary 2010: Jaco Van Dormael’s Mr. Nobody

There’s no denying the talent that oozes from filmmaker Jaco Van Dormael stylistic hand, he has audiences revved up by his Camera D’or Cannes winning 1991 film, with “Toto the Hero“, and with his follow-up “The Eighth Day” in 1996 collected awards and accolades. Mr. Nobody, which received premieres at last year’s Venice and TIFF fests took the helmer 10 years to make and was a first in fourteen long years. It’s one of those films that will divide audiences: you either hat it or love it. Some would call it a work of genius, and some would say this is a total mess. Mr.Nobody is a philosophical drama of enormous proportions. With a run time of over 2 and half hours, this deals with the subject of free will versus fate. Whether we should give up the need to choose, and let destiny take its’ course, or should we stick to the free human way at all cost. This is brought to the screen in the shape of a story of one man (mostly Jared Leto) in three different dimensions (past, present, and future), all of them are edited in a parallel way.

As always, Van Dormael’s visual prowess is evident and the editing is sublime, and the way he works with a film score is superb. The only trouble is: it’s impossible to keep track with the story. It seems that Van Dormael fell in love with spiral way his characters take hold of the storyline, and it appears that it took over his methodology, thus it’s difficult to make heads or tails about the denouement. However, the film doesn’t merit to be discarded – as it delivers an experience that is difficult to explain, it’s a cerebral challenge and a feast to the eyes, recommended only for those who are interested in solving riddles.