Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Mr. Nobody Blu-ray Movie Review

Endless Possibilities

Reviewed by Michael Reuben February 19, 2014

Four and a half years after its international premiere at the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals, Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael's English-language debut, Mr. Nobody, is finally making its U.S. appearance on Blu-ray. The film, which is only Van Dormael's third feature, is often described as science fiction, and certainly it borrows elements from the genre, including, most obviously, a trip to Mars. But Mr. Nobody is more accurately described as a fantasia of the imagination, an attempt to use all the resources of cinema to explore the fluid boundaries between dreams and reality, past and present, possibility and actuality. In that sense, the film has more in common with Christopher's Nolan's Inception, which appeared the following year and, compared to the puzzles posed by Mr. Nobody, seems like simplicity itself.

Mr. Nobody arrives late to Blu-ray in the U.S., having been released over three years ago in a Canadian region-free edition of Van Dormael's director's cut that is approximately sixteen minutes longer than the version that played at Venice and Toronto and was released throughout Europe. For whatever reason, the film was not released here until November 2013, when Magnolia Pictures opened it on a grand total of four screens. It is Magnolia that is finally bringing the film to Blu-ray in region A, and they are offering an "extra" that is not available on the Canadian disc from Entertainment One: a copy of the original theatrical cut, albeit at the lower resolution of 720p. Devoted fans can now perform their own scene-by-scene comparison of how Van Dormael re-edited and expanded his vision of the many lives of Nemo Nobody, who surveys his past(s) from the year 2092 at the advanced age of 118. (Nemo was Jared Leto's last role before his hiatus from acting that ended with Dallas Buyers Club.)

Nemo Nobody is a mystery to everyone. We learn that he was born in 1975 and has lived to the age of 118 in the year 2092, when science has conquered the challenge of aging and Nemo is now the last remaining mortal on earth and a curiosity to all. Otherwise there are no records of his life, and his memories are hazy and unstable. Jared Leto plays Nemo as an adult and, in elaborate prosthetics, as an old man who can barely get out of bed to meet with his physician, Dr. Feldheim (Allan Corduner). Youthful versions of Nemo are performed by younger actors, notably Thomas Byrne, who plays Nemo at the pivotal age of nine, and the remarkable Tony Regbo, who plays him as a teenager.

As news reports broadcast hourly updates on Nemo's final days, an enterprising journalist (Daniel Mays) sneaks into his hospital room to attempt an exclusive interview. Some of what we see in Mr. Nobody are the stories that Nemo tells the journalist, while other parts are (or may be) memories unlocked by Dr. Feldheim through hypnosis. Still other parts are inexplicable, because, as Van Dormael has noted, his film is deliberately designed as a series of Russian dolls, where there is always another one inside. Jared Leto says that he personally counted twelve different lives that Nemo "lives" during the course of the film, and there may be more. Some of them are even imagined by one Nemo writing stories about another.

In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, the hero, Billy Pilgrim, is described as "unstuck in time". It would be fair to describe Nemo as unstuck in time, space and probability. Indeed, one of Nemo's incarnations offers helpful lectures on string theory and the big bang, while another explains the butterfly effect of causation. But the defining factor in all of Nemo's lives are choices that he makes, the consequences of which he cannot possibly anticipate at the time (although in some versions of his life, Nemo claims to be able to predict the future—just not for himself).

Nemo's most momentous choice is forced upon him by his divorcing parents (Natasha Little and Rhys Ifans) when he is nine years old. Stay with Father in England, and life offers one set of possibilities. Go with Mother to Canada, and a different array of futures awaits. This decisive event is presented at a train station appropriately named "Chance", and it recurs frequently from many angles, and with many shifting results, during the course of the film.

Other significant choices include the three women who rotate through Nemo's futures, in various incarnations. In an early scene, which may be a trick of the old Nemo's imagination, his nine-year-old self sees the three of them together as little girls, each attired in the signature color that will characterize her future scenes: Elise (played variously by Sarah Polley, Clara Stone and Léa Thonus) wears blue; Anna (Diane Kruger, Juno Temple and Laura Brumagne) wears red; and Jean (Linh Dan Pham, Audrey Giacomini and Anaïs Van Belle) wears yellow. The adult Nemo lives many variations of adult romance: a successful family man, though one who feels a growing dissatisfaction with his lot; a man who desperately loves an inconsolably sad wife; a widower in perpetual mourning; a wanderer forever searching for the one true love he found and lost. In one variation, Nemo's quest for love and adventure take him all the way to Mars—or perhaps that was just a story invented by the lonely boy who stayed with Father in England, and that boy may just be hallucinating in a hospital room where he is lying in a coma after an accident.

The reporter hearing these stories in 2092 is constantly frustrated. Which of them is true? They can't all be. The elderly Nemo turns away, changes the subject or says something dismissive. By the end of Mr. Nobody, though, Van Dormael has pulled off the nearly impossible trick of providing an ending—not exactly a resolution or an explanation, but an ending—that gives the film a satisfactory conclusion without closing the many possibilities he has worked so hard to open up. If one has the energy, one is tempted to immediately restart the film from the beginning, because there is certainly plenty to see. Van Dormael and his creative team have filled the frame with meaningful detail, then distracted the first-time viewer with stunning visual effects that are seamlessly woven into the visual fabric, whether it's their vision of 2092 or something as apparently effortless as a mirrored reflection that opens into physical space without anyone seeming to notice. At every moment in Mr. Nobody, time and space can be as malleable as memory can make them—or, perhaps, as malleable as a possibility that has yet to transpire and thus can still be changed.

Mr. Nobody Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shot on film by cinematographer Christophe Beaucarne (Adore and Coco Before Chanel), Mr. Nobody was heavily processed in post-production on a digital intermediate, an essential step given the variety of effects works and the precision and importance of the color designs. The result, as presented on Magnolia Home Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, is so sharp and clear that it could almost be mistaken for digital photography. Only an occasional hint of video noise betrays the extent of the digital labors performed to integrate the effects and weave together the footage shot in multiple locations on two continents. One of the film's most impressive visual elements, which is ably reproduced on Magnolia's Blu-ray, is the maintenance of consistent black and contrast levels across the constantly shifting scenes, with their radically different light levels and color palettes.

The colors of Mr. Nobody are an astonishing array of hues, from the rich reds inspired by Anna, to the cold blues and grays that dominate the later scenes with Elise, to the intense yellows invoked by Jean, to the muted plaids and checks that Nemo is startled to find himself wearing when he imagines himself to be just like everyone else. If one can detach oneself from the complex action on screen (admittedly not an easy task), it is possible to watch Mr. Nobody just to admire the kaleidoscope of shifting colors that Van Dormael and his team have created.

Magnolia typically achieves high average bitrates; so it is somewhat surprising to find this visually complex film measure in at a rate of 21.96 Mbps. The letterbox bars undoubtedly help, as does the existence of numerous scenes with minimal movement. Still, the compressionist's job here can't have been easy. The good news is that it has been well performed, leaving no evident artifacts. (The likely reason for the lower-than-usual rate is the presence of the theatrical version among the extras.)

Mr. Nobody Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is nothing at all naturalistic about Mr. Nobody's 5.1 sound mix, presented here in lossless DTS-HD MA. It's as odd and unpredictable as the environment in which Nemo Nobody recalls his past(s), which may shift at any moment. Several big moments pack the requisite punch with ample bass extension—e.g., a surreal display involving numerous helicopters, a major incident (I don't want to be more specific) in outer space and several episodes involving motor vehicles—but other effects are quiet and subtle: dialogue that is a little too soft or too loud, sudden silences, the sound of rushing water when none should be there.

The original score for Mr. Nobody was the last composed by the director's brother, Pierre Van Dormael (Toto the Hero) before his untimely death from cancer in 2008. The score's simple, elegant instrumentals are full-bodied and richly reproduced. Complementing the underscoring is an upbeat selection of pop tunes, notably multiple versions of "Mr. Sandman", the significance of which I leave for the individual viewer to interpret—along with Ella Fitzgerald's rendition of "Into Every Life Some Rain Must Fall", "Daydream" performed by Wallace Collection and "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by Eurythmics.

Mr. Nobody Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Movie (720p; 2:34; 2:19:17): The original theatrical release, presented in 720p and Dolby Digital 5.1, with optional English SDH or Spanish subtitles. The film has chapter stops but no menu.



• The Making of Mr. Nobody (1080i; 2.34:1; 45:08): In French and English, with English subtitles. This is an indispensable companion piece to the film containing lengthy interviews with Van Dormael, key members of his crew and most of the principal cast. Van Dormael is articulate about his artistic goals, and the cast are seen rehearsing and performing on various elaborate sets.



• Deleted Scenes (480i; 2.34:1, non-enhanced; 6:51): A "play all" function is included.
• Brawl & ????'s Suicide
• Anna & Nemo on the Bus
• Clara
• Father's Painting



• AXS TV: A Look at How I Live Now (1080i; 2.34:1; 3:25): This is the typical AXS TV promotion piece that integrates clips from the film with a few interview segments from the documentary.



• Trailer (1080p; 2.34:1; 2:06). Encapsulating Mr. Nobody in a trailer is almost possible, but this one does a remarkably good job.



• Also from Magnolia Home Entertainment: The disc includes trailers for The Last Days on Mars, How I Live Now, Best Man Down and Bad Milo!, as well as a promo for AXS TV. These also play at startup, where they can be skipped with the chapter forward button.
• BD-Live: As of this writing, attempting to access BD-Live gave the message "Check back later for updates".

Mr. Nobody Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

One of Jaco Van Dormael's most provocative observations in "The Making of Mr. Nobody" is his comparison of the typical film to a funnel, which begins with a wide opening sweeping in numerous possibilities and much information, then narrows to a single result. In Van Dormael's experience, he says, life is the opposite, because the more you learn and experience, the wider the range of possibilities. Van Dormael's goal is to express that expansion cinematically. I can't say whether he has succeeded with Mr. Nobody; it's the kind of film, like Donnie Darko or Mulholland Drive, that too often gets turned into a "puzzle" fans feel they need to "solve", and while worrying over where each piece fits into the grand scheme, they lose the larger sense of the artistic experience that makes all those parts worthwhile. Still, I cannot recall any film that approached so philosophical a subject as the anxiety of choice with such cinematic grandeur. If nothing else, the boldness of the enterprise is a thing of beauty. Highly recommended.