You have to make the right choice.

As long as you dont choose, everything remains

possible-9 Year Old Nemo
In Western society we presume that more choice means better options and greater
happiness in our lives. However, we should beware of excessive choice: choice ov
erload can make us question the decisions we make before we even make them, it c
an set us up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make us blame our
selves for any and all failures. In the long run, this can lead to a sort of dec
ision-making paralysis. And in a culture that tells us that there is no justific
ation for falling short of perfection when your options are infinite, too much c
hoice can actually lead to clinical depression.
Over the past two decades, the use of antidepressants in America in particular,
has skyrocketed. 1 in 10 Americans now takes an antidepressant medication; among
women in their 40s and 50s, the figure is 1 in 4 which is staggering. This begs
us to question whether this is directly causal to the ever increasing choices w
e have in our modern society; everything from groceries, phones, games, and even
in the way we have access to people and relationships through social media and
dating sites.
The 2009 film Mr. Nobody deals specifically with the paradox of choice and is ho
nestly one of my favorite films to come out in the last decade and I have replay
ed it many times on days when the world (not life) bores me to the point where m
y mind needs something to think about instead of hearing about how Miley Cyrus i
s following the same trend that most Disney and Mickey Mouse Club stars follow t
hrough their Hollywood journey( there is a reason for this arching trend that I
wont get into since I dont care to talk about Miley past these next few words on t
his platform).
Anyway, in Mr. Nobody, we follow the story of the man Nemo Nobody (Jared Leto) w
ho is 118 year old man, the last mortal on Earth. Except him, all other people a
re immortal and they just want to know how he lived. Nemo himself says that he r
emembers nothing about his past and a psychiatrist, Dr. Feldheim, tries to make
him recall memories through act hypnosis, and in that moment, majority of this s
tory begins. And then we follow his life in three acts and every one of them is
unique in his own way.
Then theres the moment at a dance, where 15-year-old Nemo (Toby Regbo) either fal
ls in love with Elise (Clare Stone), who really loves someone else, or settles f
or Jean (Audrey Giacomini), or, he fell in love with his one, true love, Anna (J
uno Temple), his step-sister and daughter of his mothers new boyfriend. But when
his mother and her boyfriend split up, Nemo loses Anna until hes 34, or not. Wh
en hes 34, Nemo (Leto), has a myriad of lives, including being happily married to
Elise (Sarah Polley), who dies in an accident, not being happily married to Eli
se, who is suffering from relentless depression, being married to Joan (Linh Dan
Pham) in a loveless marriage, finding Anna (Diane Kruger) by chance in a packed
train station, finding her with a husband and two kids, finding her then losing
her number when the ink runs after getting wet.
In chess, its called Zugzwang when the only viable move, is not to move at all.-
9 Year Old Nemo
Jaco Van Dormael through great direction, multi-layered screenplay, remarkable c
inematography showed us great, but ordinary slice of life story, with best and w
orst parts of us like human beings, but in not-ordinary Sci-Fi way, with great e
xamples of quantum physics and theory of chaos, and especially of choosing the r
ight path, the right way, making the right decision, but maybe the any choice is
the right one. There is no doubt however that Jaco Van Dormaels Mr. Nobody is ov
erreaching. The film is in all honesty overambitious (I dont care though thats wha
t I like) and unable to handle all of its themes with appropriate care. Its 160
minute running time might sound a little overwhelming but theres so much here tha
t it barely allows van Dormael to scratch the surface of all the things he inclu
ded. This might be a little problematic if you expect a conclusive story and tig
htly wrapped whole, but that would be missing the whole point of the film; plus
I dont want to be sitting down for that long and risk pelvic floor injury- we hav
e Kevin Costner films for that purpose.
What was there before the big bang? Well, you see, there was no before becaus
e before the big bang, time did not exist. Time is a result of the expansion of
the universe itself. But what will happen when the universe has finished expandi
ng?- Adult Nemo
I dont think Ive ever seen a film with as many cinematic climaxes before. Its astou
nding how Van Dormael turns each scene into a unique little cinematic event. The
re is hardly filler here, no scenes to drag out the running time or to fill some
gaps in between other climaxes. Every scene matters and every scene is made to
look like it matters. The director uses all means to his disposal to keep the vi
ewer engaged and interested in the life of the main protagonist, Nemo Nobody.
Mr. Nobody is about the choices we make in life and how the big and little ones
can affect the way things turn out. The only questions that preoccupy Nemo in th
e present is whether he lived the right life for himself, loved the woman whom h
e was supposed to love, and had the children whom he was meant to have and his p
urpose is to find the right answer. Ultimately, the film asks the question does
it even matter in the end what choice or direction we choose- is any of this eve
n Real?
Mr Nobody is one of those rare films that can suck the viewer into its world. As
you watch Mr Nobody and the various events you might not fully understand at th
e time the meaning of everything you see, but you will remain intrigued and as t
he movie progresses it starts to make more sense. There are quite a few things l
eft up to interpretation, but the film should keep you thinking about it once th
e ending credits begin.
This film explains that absolutely nothing is certain everything is pure imagina
tion. It is like day-dreaming: you picture something and then one thing leads to
another and you find yourself wondering what its like to be old and having gran
dchildren. This concept resonates well because it is true, you witness it every
day in the world. People can plan their lives all they want yet nothing works out
the way you hoped for or you thought was supposed to be. Plans are good for a gu
ideline but never as the ultimate be all and end all; thats just foolish. If you
plan for everything in life you will ultimately miss out on the beautiful chaos
to which life is all about.
The movie also flirts with the notion that humans are born with the hidden knowl
edge of their lives and that it may be possible to access these future memories. T
he only way I can explain the concept of future memories is through the example of
dj vu. We have all had this happen to us at one point in our lives- the seeing of
future events or instances prior to them even occurring.
There comes a time in life where everything seems narrow. Choices have been m
ade. I can only continue on. I know myself like the back of my hand. I can predi
ct my every reaction. My life has been cast in cement with airbags and seatbelts
. Ive done everything to reach this point and now that Im here, Im fucking bored-Nem
o
I have many times before have had this happen (as I am sure you have too) althou
gh nothing extreme or big, just predicting very small things like who I was goin
g to run into that day, whether or not someone was going to cut themselves while
chopping vegetables or what someone was going to say next. A lot of these momen
ts happen with extreme accuracy to the point where we question if life is pre-de
termined or that humans have what is known as Social Intelligence (essentially we
give off certain vibrations/signals out to the ether and thus manifest certain e
vents around us, thoughts, and actions from people around us.
Mr. Nobody mentions the fact that this person (Nemo), before being born, wasnt to
uched by the Angels of Oblivion on the top of the mouth. He was missed so he ret
ained all of his memories. For this reason, he remembers picking out his parents
, maybe then, the reason he knows everything is because he has lived all of thos
e lives; each time that the universe expands and contracts its as though life is
being repeated but also, they are all happening concurrently because time is som
ething that we have made up. In realty, if it can even be called that, there is
no concept of time and in a way, thats more like a higher being, like God, almost
. How He can be everywhere at once, its just that its too far over our heads to ev
en understand.
Im certain Jaco Van Dormaels threw in a couple of storylines just to F us around.
The alternatives and counterparts come at the drop of a hat, connect remotely w
ith each other and not at all. However, Leto is the thing that holds it all tog
ether. Ive lost track of Leto the last few years (Loved him in American Psycho),
but his work is great here too. I can only imagine what it took to keep this w
hole thing straight in his head- he must have felt like Christian Bale when he p
layed Bret Easton Ellis Patrick Bateman.
In closing, the quote that we started off with by Nemo is a simple yet a profoun
d one. It almost makes you want to make every important decision in life by way
of flipping a coin; much like Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men, however,
we would all probably look just as psycho as he did in that film. The ultimate i
rony of Nemo is that before he was unable to make a decision because he didnt kno
w what would happen. Now that he knows what will happen, he is still unable to m
ake a choice.