FILM | Reviews 56 THE LIST 20 Feb–20 Mar 2014
EROTIC DOUBLE BILL NYMPHOMANIAC VOLUMES I & II (18) 117min & 123min ●●●●●
His first film since Melancholia, Lars von Trier’s two-part erotic odyssey is undoubtedly the most anticipated arthouse event of 2014. While the promised five-and-a-half hour ‘hardcore’ version has yet to be released this watered-down double- bill will be enough for some. Even the posters, showing the cast and their orgasm faces, promise controversy – but then nothing is ever quite what it seems with von Trier. Volume I begins as ageing singleton Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) discovers Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg), badly beaten in an alleyway near his home. Taking her back to his flat to recover, she starts to reveal how she became a nymphomaniac: ‘I’m just a bad human being,’ she says, full of self-loathing. Flashing back to her youth, Joe (played here by Stacy Martin) recounts her earliest sexual encounters; notably losing her virginity to Shia LaBeouf’s biker boy.
Seligman proves an amused audience, frequently interrupting to compare her conquests to everything from Bach and fly-fishing to advanced mathematics. There are some standout performances, from Uma Thurman (as a slighted wife), Christian Slater (Joe’s father) and, in the increasingly melancholic Volume II, Jamie Bell (as a prim sadist, in the film’s most disturbing sequence).
Is it controversial? Until we see the unexpurgated version that’s hard to say. But compared to this truncated cut, von Trier’s 2009 film Antichrist arguably has the more shocking moments. True, some scenes – like Joe’s sympathy for a paedophile who never actually abuses a child – feel horribly misguided. But for the most part Nymphomaniac is compelling and achieves exactly what von Trier set out to do: a multi- faceted exploration of sexuality, in all its bizarre, twisted glory. (James Mottram) ■ Limited release from Sat 22 Feb.
SCI-FI THE ZERO THEOREM (15) 107min ●●●●●
Existential equations are the perplexing order of the day in the third part of Terry Gilliam’s dystopian trilogy, following 1985’s Brazil and 1995’s 12 Monkeys. Set in the near-future and boasting an eclectic international cast, The Zero Theorem is reliably askew with all the absurdity you’d hope for from a Python.
Christoph Waltz plays data processing whizz Qohen Leth, an employee of a merciless
corporation called Mancom, scratching out a lonely existence in a burnt-out chapel. At the start of the film, he’s waiting on a terribly important call, which it transpires has been a very long time coming. So desperate is he to receive this communication that he asks his supervisor (David Thewlis) if he might work permanently from home, eventually gaining permission from ‘Management’ (Matt Damon). Tilda Swinton is in fine comic form as online psychologist Dr Shrink-Rom, while Mélanie Thierry plays Bainsley, a beautiful woman who takes a mysterious interest in him. It’s no surprise that Gilliam delivers visual imagination and witty touches in spades, with the
film’s aesthetic forged from a delightful marriage of the futuristic and retro. While it’s dazzling to the eye and conceptually grandiose, unfortunately the screenplay doesn’t deliver much in the way of story or real substance. Perhaps most frustrating is that this is a story which takes in love and loneliness but fails to touch the heart. (Emma Simmonds)
FAMILY COMEDY THE LEGO MOVIE (U) 100min ●●●●●
Fast, funny and created with loving attention to detail, The Lego Movie will delight anyone who has ever played with those universally-recognised little yellow figures. Beginning at a blistering pace that never lets up, the film (from Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs directors Christopher Millerand Phil Lord) succeeds by sticking closely to the things that make Lego so appealing. From the visual style, which looks uncannily like real animated Lego figures but is actually painstaking digital 3D, to the endless cameos from Lego versions of popular characters – Batman, Gandalf and Shaquille O’Neal all feature – the film revels in Lego’s potential for silly fun. Added to this it features a totally up-for-it voice cast, headed by Chris Pratt (currently stealing scenes in Spike Jonze’s Her) and a standout turn from Liam Neeson as a conflicted Lego cop.
It is hugely inventive and very entertaining, but there comes a point where its head-bashingly insistent insanity becomes wearing. Anchorman-style non sequiturs are funny in small doses, but this film leans heavily on that surreal vein of humour, which ultimately wears thin. The Lego Movie is so layered with ironic detachment that when Miller and Lord do attempt to go sincere in the final act, it is a significant misstep; the message feels trite and hollow. Miller and Lord are clearly masters of comedy though, and The Lego Movie is a genuinely funny film that can be equally enjoyed by adults and kids. (Paul Gallagher) ■ On general release now.