Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		1.5

Zeros and Ones Blu-ray Movie Review

Choose your own disparaging joke: 'Well, the title's half right' or 'Doesn't add up to much'.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 3, 2022

It's fairly common on Blu-ray releases for various people associated with the production to offer brief introductions to whatever is the main feature on the disc, as a putative bonus item. While it's therefore not that unusual to see Ethan Hawke offering bookending commentary both before and after the film via very brief video segments, what is unusual is that these moments are part of the film (i.e., not "extras"), and even more weirdly, they evidently were part of the theatrical exhibition of Zeros and One, though Hawke (and, one assumes, Ferrara) seem to be toying with the audience in this regard, with Hawke mentioning at the end that these bookends are part of the film (in more than the obvious manner). If the introductory video is weird enough, it at least allows Hawke a chance to tout his appreciation for writer and director Abel Ferrara's work, which may already raise an eyebrow or two, but by the time the film is over and Hawke is back with a deer in the headlights look (however intentional it may be), he might as well be doing his Zoom call in front of some kind of custom flashing neon "WTF?" background. The fact that Zeros and Ones begins (and, frankly, often continues) with imagery so dark it's hard to make out what's actually going on (a potential positive?) is just one immediate obstacle to understanding, but when the "story" then takes more or less ten minutes to follow a character wordlessly through abandoned streets, patience may grow thin sooner rather than later.

It’s probably become passé to describe Ferrara as self indulgent, but it’s hard to know what else to call this rambling piece of nonsense, a term I use in its most foundational way, since I frankly defy anyone to concisely tell me what Zeros and Ones is about. Hawke is enthusiastic in his opening remarks about the opportunity to play two brothers in the film, one named J.J. and the other Justin. J.J. is some kind of military operative, and some elements of his story seem curiously Homeland adjacent, especially when it turns out other brother Justin is being held prisoner for “rebel” activity. A supposedly major plot point about an impending attack on the Vatican which is overtly mentioned in the plot précis on the back cover of this release is dealt with almost discursively and tangentially in the actual film.

Now given the fact that J.J. and Justin are supposedly twin brothers, and one of them might be in a perilous situation in a prison (with the other in perhaps even more perilous conditions out in the big, wide world, albeit one seemingly largely abandoned), it might almost look like Ferrara is aiming for some big, mind blowing “reveal” where J.J. and Justin turn out to be refracted versions of the same person, but Zeros and Ones has nothing that “tricky” up its veritable sleeve. Instead, this is a mishmash of hallucinatory scenes that feature a laundry list of Ferrara’s frequent focus in some of his previous films. There are passing attempts to work in references to longstanding “religious wars”, at least with regard to Christianity as defined by Catholicism and Islam, as well as some quasi-kinky detours (including a forced sexual encounter which is filmed) but, again, anyone looking for any clear narrative thrust in this area is probably going to come away unsatisfied.

For all its flaws and, well, self indulgence, this is another unabashedly interesting exercise from Ferrara which is strong on mood and which probably more than adequately captures the feeling of unease and actual paranoia that has become so prevalent in this time of a global pandemic. Shooting in a Rome in the throes of a very restrictive lockdown and evening curfew helped Ferrara give the film a really discomfiting post-Apocalyptic ambience which is inherently unsettling, as if the fractured narrative and murky imagery weren't already enough to unbalance viewers. That said, this is another Ferrara film where some may question exactly whom Ferrara thinks his audience is and what they're coming to his films for. Even as an intellectual exercise like that, Zeros and Ones may frankly not generate much interest.

Zeros and Ones Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Zeros and Ones is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. There isn't a ton of technical data on this shoot that I could dredge up online, but I did find one passing comment by Abel Ferrara in an interview he gave where he stated, "We were shooting digital, and with this crazy Bolex camera that [cinematographer Sean Price Williams] had, and we digitally added grain from this '90s Kodak stock." As can probably be gleaned by the screenshots accompanying this review, the imagery has been pretty aggressively tweaked in all manner and forms, and those stylistic choices simply need to be accepted on their own terms. The "grain" is obviously almost comically chunky at times, giving things a noisy, 16mm ambience. There's also outright pixellation at times, and, again as can be seen in many of the screenshots, whole swaths of this film play out in near darkness. Detail levels tend to improve in some of the blue graded material, as opposed to the other frequent grading choice, which is kind of in the burnt umber or even orange territory.

Zeros and Ones Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Zeros and Ones features a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that nicely exploits the film's hallucinatory sound design. There are huge washes of low frequency effects that pan through the side and rear channels, and what are almost aural non sequiturs dot the surrounds at various times, giving the soundtrack an off kilter quality that is more or less perfectly in line with everything else about this film. Dialogue can be sparse and intermittent, but is rendered with sufficient clarity. Optional English, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles are available.

Zeros and Ones Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 1:50)

Additionally, a digital copy is included, and packaging features a slipcover.

Zeros and Ones Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If Hawke's prologue and epilogue were supposed to be some kind of "meta" moment, I might suggest that Zeros and Ones might have been better served by having Hawke continue to show up and provide a kind of Mystery Science Theater 3000 commentary to what is going on. That would be an Abel Ferrara film worth seeing. My hunch is even ardent Ferrara fans may not think this one is, though technical merits are generally solid (with a contextual understanding of the stylistic quirks on display with regard to the video side of things), for those who are considering making a purchase.