Director Report Card: Vincenzo Natali (2003)

3. Nothing

After directing a bleak sci-fi/horror film with philosophical overtones like “Cube” and a twisting espionage story about the malleability of identity like “Cypher,” you can understand why Vincenzo Natali would want to make something a little more light-hearted. The director had known actors David Hewlett and Andrew Miller since they were teenagers, as they all went to high school together. Together, the three began to formulate an idea for an off-beat comedy. Writer Andrew Lowery was brought in to help hash out the script further. The resulting project, “Nothing,” would begin to play festivals in 2003.

Dave and Andrew have been the best of friends since they were kids, on account of both being outcasts. Dave is a slacker that greatly overestimates his own talent. Andrew is an extreme agoraphobic. As adults, they live in a cramped house positioned between two highway overpasses. In the course of one day, both men's lives totally fall apart. And that is when the outside world is totally replaced by an endless white void. Dave and Andrew are initially baffled and frightened by this incident. Yet they soon find the nothingness to be a cozy escape from the pressures of reality. Afterwards, they even learn to control what disappears and what stays.

“Nothing” is another Vincenzo Natali movie that turns its limitations into a feature. Despite the obvious tonal differences – one is a serious nightmare situation, the other is a surreal farce – “Nothing” has some things in common with “Cube.” Much like his feature debut, this movie is also shot on an obvious limited set. It wasn't shot in one room, endlessly redecorated to present the illusion of multiple rooms. Yet an endless white void, created through clever combination of physical locations and green screen, was similarly limited. “Nothing” also revolves almost totally around three characters and one of them is a pet turtle. It goes to show how able Natali is to do a lot with a little.

Before the story shifts totally to the titular nothingness, the film convincingly creates the worst day ever for both of its protagonists. We see some of the cramped, cyberpunk set design from “Cypher” in the brief glimpse we get at Dave's office job, where chairs are suspended from the ceiling via dangling wires. The home, which looks like half of a proper building, is in a hellish location, where the noise from two overpasses are constantly heard. Even what little comforts they have are shattered by an escalating series of disasters. Dave is accused of embezzlement at work, fired, and then dumped by his girlfriend. Andrew is accused of abusing a little girl by a random woman, considers suicide, and then looses the building he calls home. It's the kind of exaggerated cascade of bad luck that would make a giant big, white void seem nice in comparison.

Even when in a more whimsical mood, Vincenzo Natali's films still tackle heavier, headier themes. About halfway through the movie, Andrew and Dave realize that they created the movie's titular white void themselves by “hating” away the world. They then touch upon the idea of “hating” away their bad memories or their doubts and fears. At which point, the neurotic Andrew becomes more confident while Dave becomes more of an obnoxious asshole. The movie causes the viewer to think about what it is exactly that's holding them back from happiness, what things about ourselves we would “hate” away if we could... And whether what we perceive as our greatest roadblocks actually are or not.

Vincenzo Natali characterizes “Nothing” as, above everything else, a movie about friendship. Dave and Andrew's relationship is mostly based off few other people being able to tolerate them. But it's clear the two also rely on each other after so many years. They've gotten used to cohabiting with one another. After the initial shock of being transported to a white void wears off, they are even giddy to have no one but each other (and their adorable pet turtle) to deal with. Yet even the best friends have their limits. Once he “hates” his insecurities away, Andrew fears Dave only puts up with him because he can look down on him. Dave, meanwhile, resents the ways his friend has his life together better in some ways. They struggle, argue, and fight, which is displayed largely through a hyper-tense game of “Dead or Alive 3.” They also work it out, like bros always do. In its own absurd way, “Nothing” accurately maps how male friendships are often built on this mixture of mutual respect and petty bickering.

But let's put thematic issues aside for a moment. While there was occasional moments of comic relief in “Cube” or “Cypher,” I wouldn't have categorized Vincenzo Natali as a funny filmmaker up to this point. So how does “Nothing” fair as a comedy? It definitely has a number of amusing moments. At first, Andrew fears that he and Dave are dead and in the afterlife. David turns on the TV and says “We can't be dead, we have cable.” Which is a pretty good line. The way the story builds in absurdity, especially the goofy way Andrew starts to spy on his friend in the last act, also got a chuckle out of me. The extremely specific notes Andrew leaves for other people also made me laugh a little. “Nothing” has a quirky spirit – obvious in visuals like a half-house sitting between two freeways – and it rides that for most of its run time.

However, not all of “Nothing” is so giddily amusing. Sometimes, the film's sense of humor veers towards the obnoxiously wacky. Upon exiting their home and entering the nothingness, Dave and Andrew find an invisible floor that is strangely springy. This revelation proceeds a sequence of them bouncing around in a joyous, childish manner. It's a scene that goes on way too long and the intentionally goofy sound effects start to grate after a while. Similarly, a scene where both men have nightmares – about finding murderous doubles of themselves inside their house – goes on far pass the point of being amusing.

As much as “Nothing” sets out to amuse, it's almost as if Vincenzo Natali can't keep himself from inserting something horrific into this story. The big finale of “Nothing” has Dave and Andrew, during their argument, using their powers to “hate” each other's body parts away. We see their skin, muscles, internal organs, and bones dissolve away into nothingness. At different points, both men are crawling around on stumps or just using their arms like legs. It goes on like this until both are disembodied heads. The CGI effects used to create this moment have aged pretty poorly, though it's probably for the best that this sequence veers more towards the cartoonish than the gory. It's still a bizarre sight. If nothing else, it is a memorable visual to conclude the movie on. 

“Nothing” is largely a two-hander, every actor in the movie disappearing after the first act. Naturally, Vincenzo Natali has to make sure one of the two remaining performers is played by David Hewlett. In what the director refers to as an act of “creative bankruptcy,” Hewlett and Andrew Miller both play characters that share their first names. Hewlett showed a degree of comedic timing in “Cube” and “Cypher,” which is also put to good use here. Hewlett delivers the often ridiculous dialogue with the right silly energy. As the film grows more absurd, he clearly enjoys taking the character to increasingly exaggerated places.

Starring opposite Hewlett is Andrew Miller. Miller's fictional counterpart spends the first half of the movie as a fidgeting ball of nerves. His neurosis leave him practically unable to live. A phone call he performs, as part of his ironic job as a travel agent, is a physically painful act for him. Miller does a good job of balancing the character's condition, making his debilitating quirks both amusing and deeply pathetic. As the movie goes on, Andrew overcomes his fears. Watching Miller go on that journey is satisfying, seeing his personality grow from perpetually fearful to bold and outgoing.

In order to make sure we know “Nothing” is a comedy, Natali gives the movie an aggressively quirky visual style. The movie begins with a narrated sequence, showing how Andrew and Dave begin as friends, that is animated in a fashion resembling cut-out photographs. More than once, Andrew's traumatic memories – of which he has many – are also brought to life via animation. These scenes resemble the crude scribblings of a children's drawing. This wacky style carries through up to the end credits, where the remaining characters become a series of size-changing images that are repeatedly remixed.

Much like Natali's second feature, “Nothing” would receive very little attention upon release in 2003. It played a number of festivals but, as far as I can tell, only had the most limited of theatrical releases. The movie then slipped onto DVD, where it also fail to garner much press. I first saw the movie during a late night screening on IFC, back when it was still called the Independent Film Channel. Now, it's not even streaming anywhere. This makes “Nothing” probably the most overlooked of Vincenzo Natali's filmography. Yet it's not a bad little flick. It made me laugh enough to justify its brief 85 minute runtime and has enough amusing, interesting ideas to more than sustain that. [Grade: B]