Mr. Nobody (2009)

What are the consequences of the choices you make? That’s the big question that’s asked in Mr. Nobody. It’s 2092 and Nemo Nobody is the last mortal man on earth. The rest of humanity has found a possibility to live forever (it’s not made clear why Nemo is not using it). At age 118 he’s big news as everyone is waiting for his death. A journalist manages to get into his room and ask him to tell about the life he has lived. Nemo starts his story and it seems like he’s not telling about his life, but about several different lives.

The story has been written en directed by Jaco Van Dormael and is almost impossible to describe. Van Dormael’s last movie was made in 1996, so he took his time to prepare for this movie (he has stated he spent 7 years on writing the script) and it really shows. The movie is a masterpiece in every way.

Jared Leto (Requiem for a Dream) is very convincing in his role as the adult and 118 year old Nemo. At age 118 his voice is almost gone and he manages to disappear behind the make up by the way he moves. Sometimes you see the sparkles in his eyes, which you would expect from someone who old who is telling about his past. It really is Leto’s movie, but the rest of the cast impresses as well.

The movie really is a maze of different lives he has led by making different decisions. All these stories are not told chronologically, but despite this it’s really easy to understand the different stories.
If you know that Leto plays 12 different versions of Nemo, you can imagine that the film could have been a mess. Van Dormael succeeds to edit the movie in such a way that you don’t feel overwhelmed with all the information.

Mr.Nobody is a mind-blowing movie about relationships, in which also subjects as time, the butterfly effect, other dimensions (string theory) and the big bang are explained in a scientific, but understandable way. For me it’s the reason why I think this movie is a masterpiece. It explains the possible cause of the different lives and it leaves the decision to the viewer to choose what really happened. Are all the stories true or did he imagine a lot of them?

To me Mr.Nobody already is the movie of the year (even though the movie has been made last year, it has taken a while before it showed up in cinemas), unless Christopher Nolan manages to top this movie with Inception.
My favourite movie has been Pulp Fiction for many years, but Mr. Nobody is fighting his way to this position. In the movie Nemo tells a story about how not making a choice does not change anything. At the moment i can’t make the choice yet to give Mr.Nobody the top position in my movie list. I will see the movie again next week and hopefully i will be able to make a choice after that. One thing is for sure though: Mr.Nobody deserves its IMDB ten.

*update*
After having seen Mr.Nobody a second time (and having seen Inception) this currently is my movie of the year. It has also taken the top position in my all-time top 10 movie list as you can read here.

Interested in other movies which I’ve awarded a 10?
A complete list can be found here.