Mr. Nobody (2009)

A boy stands on a station platform as a train is about to leave. Should he go with his mother or stay with his father? Infinite possibilities arise from this decision. As long as he doesn't choose, anything is possible.

Director:

Jaco Van Dormael

Writer:

Jaco Van Dormael

Stars:

Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger

11 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jared Leto	...	Nemo Adult / Old Nemo
Sarah Polley	...	Adult Elise
Diane Kruger	...	Anna Adult
Linh Dan Pham	...	Adult Jean (as Linh-Dan Pham)
Rhys Ifans	...	Father Nemo
Natasha Little	...	Mother Nemo
Toby Regbo	...	Nemo age 15
Juno Temple	...	Anna age 15
Clare Stone	...	Elise age 15
Thomas Byrne	...	Nemo age 9
Audrey Giacomini	...	Jean age 15
Laura Brumagne	...	Anna age 9
Allan Corduner	...	Dr. Feldheim
Daniel Mays	...	Young Journalist
Michael Riley	...	Harry

Storyline

In the year 2092, one hundred eighteen year old Nemo is recounting his life story to a reporter. He is less than clear, often times thinking that he is only thirty-four years of age. But his story becomes more confusing after he does focus on the fact of his current real age. He tells of his life at three primary points in his life: at age nine (when his parents divorced), age sixteen and age thirty-four. The confusing aspect of the story is that he tells of alternate life paths, often changing course with the flick of a decision at each of those ages. One life path has him ultimately married to Elise, a depressed woman who never got over the unrequited love she had for a guy named Stefano when she was a teenager and who asked Nemo to swear that when she died he would sprinkle her ashes on Mars. A second life path has him married to Jean. Their life is one of luxury but one also of utter boredom. And a third life path has him in a torrid romance with his step-sister Anna, the two who,...

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Plot Keywords:

multiple outcomes | butterfly effect | time | future | reference to china | 

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Taglines:

Nothing is real, everything is possible.

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Romance | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some sexuality/nudity, brief strong language and violent images.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Belgium Germany Canada France USA UK

Language:

English Mohawk

Release Date:

26 September 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gospodin Niko

Filming Locations:

Japanese Garden, Hasselt, Belgium

Box Office

Budget:

$47,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,612, 3 November 2013, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$3,600, 1 December 2013

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,331,721, 30 May 2010

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pan Européenne,Virtual Films,Christal Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

141 min 138 min 157 min (Director's Cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The street where Nemo's parents first meet is called Butterfly Lane N.S., in reference to the butterfly effect.

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Goofs

At 01:34:37, when Nemo and Anna approach each other at the station, his jacket is half striped on his right shoulder. However, at one moment after the cut, his jacket is suddenly back on his shoulder.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Nemo Nobody adult: Like most living creatures, the pigeon quickly associates the pressing of the level with the reward. But when a timer releases a seed automatically every 20 seconds, the pigeon wonders, what did I do to deserve this? If it was flapping its wings at the time, it will continue to flap, convinced that its actions have the decisive influence on what happens. We call this "pigeon superstition".
Nemo Nobody adult: [cut to Nemo on a gurney] What did I do to deserve this?

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Connections

References Fight Club (1999)

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Soundtracks

Prelude
Written by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by Philippe de Cock
(p) Somebody Production / Art Public

User Reviews

An exercise in pointlessness

Take several helpings of philosophical and physics theories and blend these together with some artsy cinematography and sci-fi backdrops to make it appear philosophical and "highly intellectual" as some reviews have described it. But if any of these were the goal of the makers of this movie, they failed miserably.

The director and the writer use confusion, chaos and distraction to make this movie appear highly cerebral. However it is a set of dissonant scenes forcefully held together without an underlying unifying idea pretending to be philosophical but offering no ideas, answers or even questions. It is as if someone had the philosophy alphabet cereal for breakfast in the morning and then vomited on a movie script at Noon. The ideas are all over the place, half digested and full of bile. Some people may confuse this for intellectualism but it is nothing more than half-baked flashes of thought. It is the cacophony of ideas that makes the movie appear philosophical, but only in a way similar to how a carnival magician shows a coin and then makes it disappear, leaving you thinking about how he pulled it off and not about the coin itself.

The unnecessarily stretched plot runs into over two hours without really needing to. One could easily cut out many of the scenes without losing much of the meaning of this movie, because there is not much meaning to lose. In fact, one could completely skip the movie and not miss much.