Nothing

Canadian director Vincenzo Natali has a tendency toward a certain kind of film. Wildly original, warped sci-fi that seems comfortable with ambiguity, he’s made such mind-fucks as Cube and Cypher.

He certainly doesn’t disappoint with Nothing. Yes, that’s right. A film called Nothing.

Obvious puns aside, Nothing is intellectual silliness at its most enjoyable. Along with Natali’s best friends and usual stars David Hewlett (Cube, Cypher, Stargate Atlantis) and Andrew Miller (er… the autistic dude from Cube), the three craft a fable so original that its simplicity comes as a surprise.

Best friends David (David Hewlett) and Andrew (Andrew Miller) are a sad pair. Acutely agoraphobic, Andrew spends his days selling holidays to people over the phone, while David is tormented by cruel workmates. The only person they can depend on is each other, and their childhood bond seems limitless and eternal.

Then disaster strikes. David decides to move in with his girlfriend of two weeks, who unbeknownst to him has been embezzling money from his place of work. Meanwhile, Andrew is accused of fiddling up a girlscout. Their house is about to be torn down and them evicted, and the lynch mobs are coming from every direction…

…then suddenly: Nothing.

The film rests heavily on its two leading men. As Andrew and David are cast into their world of nothing, with only the house and their pet turtle still in existence and white space all around, it’s up to them to carry the film, which they do with surprising skill for two unknowns. Though Andrew can be a little whiny and clunky at times, the two are perfectly matched as their friendship turns to irritation and the relationship is tested by paranoia and buried feelings. The dialogue is inspired – at times unpredictably funny, there’s a genuine sense of normalcy about our two losers as they traverse this new world and discuss tofu, cheerfully chase each other with garden tools, and ruminate on whether the afterlife has cable.

It looks fantastic as well. The special effects aren’t perfect – there’s clearly not much of a budget – and of course there’s not much to see in a huge, empty space, but the newspaper-cut-out backstory to open and the overall cartoonishness smack of Roald Dahl and Dr Seuss.

If anything, the film doesn’t quite live up to its running time. It provides no definitive answers, not that they’re really expected – this is all about the characters, not the science (you’ll want to stay after the credits, by the way). Anyone who’s seen Cube will know about Natali’s frustrating, ambiguous finales. At times it seems as if the director is just trying to fill in space somewhere between the funny bits at the beginning, and the emotional bits at the end. Still, the brief running time means it doesn’t lag long, and for the most part Nothing is a satisfying, genuine, and truly weird experience.