Beautiful but boring

Rating: 7/10 (11 October 2013)

The past. Not an entity where variation tends to exist. What's done is done, right? Mr. Nobody, a film by Jaco Van Dormael explores and re-imagines the theory of the Arrow of Time: the notion that time moves in only one direction.
A simplistic sketch of the film's plot: By 2092 the world has moved on. 118 year-old Nemo Nobody, the last remnant of the old world recounts his life to a reporter. Nemo's details his past as a series of fragments. He recount them as if he were in fact choosing his past the way we choice our future. We are shown array of lives.
"Why does the smoke never go back into the cigarette? Why do the molecules spread away from each other? Why does a spilled drop of ink never reform?" As the laws of entropy take the universe further and further into a state of disarray what will happen when we hit maximum entropy? When total chaos bestills nothingness? Mr. Nobody is not exactly hot off the reels. It's a 2009 film that was on my must watch list. Despite so many awesome elements, the cinematic culmination of Mr. Nobody was rather disappointing. Mostly, the scenes tended to drag on. This was 100 minutes worth of great material stretched over the course of 155 minutes. Van Dormael should have taken a cue from his own philosophy and realize that if the Arrow moves only forward, and if I'm going to spend 155 minutes of my Arrow watching your film, I'd better be good.
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