TL; DR: Interesting, thought-provoking, philosophically deep. Worth a watch
So, for reasons unknown, I feel like I really don’t like Jared Leto. I have no idea why. I mean, I really like
many of his movies (or, perhaps more accurately, movies he’s been in): Requiem for a Dream, Girl, Interrupted,
Fight Club (not very memorable, sure), Lord of War, plus some others. But man, I just can’t shake the feeling that
I don’t like him.
I mean, doesn’t he just look punchable?
But, once again, I’m impressed with his performance in Mr. Nobody. His character, the titular (yay, I finally used
that word in a sentence!) Nemo Nobody, is the oldest living human, all other humans having gone through some
technological change which has eradicated old age. They are trying to coax Nemo into describing his life, into telling
them something about himself. He goes into an incredible amount of detail, but he is highly inconsistent. His parents
divorced when he was 9 and he leaves with his mom. No, he stays with his dad. At 15 years old, he’s caring for his
father and falls for a girl named Elise. But, if he did that, how can he be living with his mother and in love with Anna?
Now, he’s 34 years old and married to Jean. Wait, who the hell is Jean?
Without giving too much away (and, honestly, if you go to the IMDb page for the movie, you’ll get the same),
this movie is Shrödinger’s Life: everything is a possibility. The movie stems from 9-year-old Nemo’s inability to choose
between staying with his father and going with his mother. All roads from that point up to Nemo in 2094 are possible
because a choice has not been made.
And if all those roads are possible, Nemo MUST have seen some shit! Just look at the guy!
The concept is amazing, but the way the stories interleave with each other is incredible. You jump from one life to
another abruptly, seamlessly. Each of them is beautiful, each of them is tragic. Nemo is the same person, but obviously
a product of different circumstances each time, and Leto plays this well. His costars are just as well versed, lending
credence to the overall product.
I really liked this film, not only for its refreshing differentness, but for the messaging, the hope which springs
from it. I dunno; while I don’t like the romcom category (for any number of reasons, but the main one being “what
predictable, unbelievable dreck is this?”), I do like romantic themes in film, especially if the film is funny. While I
wouldn’t say that Mr. Nobody is funny, it definitely has charm. I can’t quite categorize it as a “feel good” film,
even though it makes you feel good. It’s not a fluffy piece of cinema; it’s definitely got some depth.
Even when Jared Leto looks like this