Mr. Nobody

Have you ever wondered “What If”?

What if I had went to this other university?

What if I had taken the bus rather than the car?

Have you ever taken the “What If?” to the next level? Dreaming up all the eventualities that might have, could have happened and what your life would look like had this “what if” taken place. Jaco van Dormael took this idea and brought it to a whole new level with his movie “Mr. Nobody”.

Depending on where in the world you live, it might have been that this movie is old news to you. It was first shown at the Venice Film Festival in 2009 but it wasn’t until 2013 that it received an official theatrical US release (and thus arguably the possibly largest country wide distribution). Needless to say it kinda slipped out of the viewers’ attention. Which is a huge shame because it is an astonishing, mindblowingly beautiful movie. Some might tell you it is a futuristic display of the shallowness of humanity that we seem to be trending towards, others might tell you it is a philosophical discussion about what life is all about. For me it was a great love story, in its core similar to “Eternal Sunshine of the spotless Mind”, but telling you too much about the plot will take away from the beauty of discovering this little gem.

We meet the protagonist Nemo in a futuristic setting, where he (and we) are being told that it is the year 2092 and that Nemo is 118 years old and the last mortal human being on earth. Naturally everybody is very interested in Nemo and his vulnerability. A reporter manages to sneak into his bedroom and through his questions we start to learn about Nemo’s life. But really we learn about his many lifes – you see Nemo believes that as long as he doesn’t make a decision he has the option of going back and forth between times. So Nemo tells stories of his numerous lives – each resulting from an important decision he had to make at one point or another.

The first decisive decision was when he was 8 years old and his parents were divorcing. He had to make the unfathomable decision of which parent he would like to live with (seriously which sane parent would ask this decision of a young child).
The next big decision came when he was 16 years old – which girl he would fall in love with.  While this seems of lesser importance at the time, really it shows how important our teenage life can be in informing our future. Who can remember his or her first love? And who can say for certain that this first love or the relationships we encounter during this time won’ shape our future! Think about that for a while
And finally we see Nemo when he is 34 years old. We learn about where his decisions in life have taken him. Married (but to whom) to various degrees of happiness. We see him as a dedicated father but also as a husband at a loss at what he wants and what is good for him and his family.

The movie is an international coproduction with an international cast. Our hero Nemo is played by Jared Leto, his parents are played by Rhys ifans and Natasha Little. The women in Nemo’s life are played by Sara Polley, Linh Dan Pham and Diane Krueger (who for once is not totally insufferable). Also the rest of the supporting cast is excellent and everybody seems to be giving their best.

One of the very few issues I had with the movie was that the cast seemed to be switching between US accents and British accents without any reasons. Other than that I found the movie just amazing. While the story not always makes sense, the characters and the stories told are so compelling that I didn’t really care. Especially the production design ensured that none of the sets, or the year the characters ever felt out of place – even totally futuristic sets seemed to just make sense.

It is also a movie that never insults the intelligence of the viewer but rather ensures that their minds are working like crazy. After watching it I found myself wondering “What If” quite often. And isn’t that what makes a great movie – one that encourages you to think and wonder and that makes you revel in its plot for a long time after the credits rolled.

So do yourself a favour and go watch this incredible film! You won’t regret it!