This movie which I saw at the Brisbane International Film Festival has only just been released into cinemas, 6 months later! So I think it timely to catch up on the review of this film.
This film is the latest from director Terry Gilliam. Who? Actually you know him. Not just a member of the legendary Monty Python troupe, he has directed many movies which cross fun with deep thinking - from The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus to Brazil to 12 Monkeys to Tideland (OK that one wasn't actually fun, just sad) to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to The Brothers Grimm. This one is no different. Quirky, bizarre, full of big ideas and concepts, underlined with humour.
The Zero Theorem is set in a near future world and centres on the character Qohen Leth (played by Christoph Waltz in another mesmerising performance) who is some type of computer programmer working for "Management". Qohen is a bit of a weird loner type to begin with, living in a bizarre home within an old church. I'm just going to jump out for a second here and say that the production design on this film is amazing, there is so much detail to take in that you can't grasp it all on the first sitting. But it definitely throws you into another world. Qohen seems a little dissatisfied with his existence when is assigned to work on the hardest problem ever created "The Zero Theorem". Which is to say that he has to try to solve a conundrum that seems to be centred around working out the meaning of life.
Qohen starts on the task where he is supervised by Joby (David Thewlis weirding out) and has regular holographic counselling sessions with Dr Shrink-Rom (Tilda Swinton). As it proves more difficult than anyone thought, Qohen soon becomes obsessed with finding the answer, to the point where it takes over his life and he can't do anything else. The Management try to distract him with a youthful offsider Bob (Lucas Hedges) and seemingly coincidental meetings with Bainsley (Melanie Thierry) who is a sex worker who has her own theories on life. The more Qohen seems to be on the verge of discovering that there is no "Meaning of Life" and life is pointless, the more life comes at him and tries to give him the message that you just have to live it rather than obsess with meaning. But can he cope with it?
The performance by Christoph Waltz in this movie is excellent - it's total commitment. And Melanie Thierry is a total breakout and will have big things ahead of her. However I think the messages in the movie are a bit obvious and ultimately it doesn't pack the 1-2 punch it needs to make it a great movie that people will be talking about. It's entertaining while it's on but ultimately it doesn't find a way to connect to the audience. Worthwhile if you like things that are a bit off-the-wall but it's not going to make any "Top 10 Movie" lists.
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