In a dystopian alternative reality, disturbed cyber-worker Qohen Leth (he pronounces it "Cohen", others pronounce it "Quinn", to his annoyance) is beavering away at an answer to the big question "Why?" Others crossing his path are his immediate boss, a boss called Management, Management's teenage son, and a young lady who offers cybersex.
Welcome back Terry Gilliam, with another movie which features dazzling visuals in a fully realised world of its own (to me, clearly an alternate reality based on our own rather than the near future), and an impressive central performance from Christoph Waltz as Qohen.
Unfortunately, while the visuals capture the imagination throughout, the content does not. This rambling tale is muddled and confusing: it is far from clear what point (if any) it is trying to make. For me, the main reason for the film's narrative failure is that the world it is based in is sufficiently well realised that we recognise it as being very different from our own, which means it is difficult to attribute context to Qohen's behaviour - we don't know how troubled he is, or what the cure (if any) for his problems might be because we can't easily see what those problems are - perhaps, for instance, he is actually normal in this world he inhabits. It is really difficult to identify with him. Contrast Jonathan Pryce's Sam Lowry in Brazil (a film which The Zero Theorem resembles in some ways, both visually and thematically), a character we understand perfectly and identify with.
I like Terry Gilliam and his work, and his films are always interesting enough to be worth watching but, for me, this film failed.
Welcome back Terry Gilliam, with another movie which features dazzling visuals in a fully realised world of its own (to me, clearly an alternate reality based on our own rather than the near future), and an impressive central performance from Christoph Waltz as Qohen.
Unfortunately, while the visuals capture the imagination throughout, the content does not. This rambling tale is muddled and confusing: it is far from clear what point (if any) it is trying to make. For me, the main reason for the film's narrative failure is that the world it is based in is sufficiently well realised that we recognise it as being very different from our own, which means it is difficult to attribute context to Qohen's behaviour - we don't know how troubled he is, or what the cure (if any) for his problems might be because we can't easily see what those problems are - perhaps, for instance, he is actually normal in this world he inhabits. It is really difficult to identify with him. Contrast Jonathan Pryce's Sam Lowry in Brazil (a film which The Zero Theorem resembles in some ways, both visually and thematically), a character we understand perfectly and identify with.
I like Terry Gilliam and his work, and his films are always interesting enough to be worth watching but, for me, this film failed.