FILM - Mr. Nobody, DIRECTOR - Jaco van Dormael,
COUNTRY - Belgium, SECTION - In Competition

Why I wanted to see it? - Sarah Polley.

Impressions :

The final film I saw at Venezia 66 was easily the most ambitious of the lot. Boasting a very large budget by European arthouse standards (the best part of £35m), Jaco van Dormael took 6 years to get in a position to make the film and it received its debut here. Set in the future when people no longer die, it follows the "last mortal" man on earth and looks back on the different possible ways his life could have gone back in the late 20th century.

There are so many films this recalls, the love and loss and regret is pure Wong Kar-Wai/2046, the various outcomes are straight out of Blind Chance and Reconstruction and the framing coupled with occasional quirkiness that is very similar to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Jared Leto is Nemo Nobody, the son of Rhys Ifans and Natasha Little (very nice seeing her doing something worthwhile a decade after This Life finished) who "has" three possible relationships with Diane Kruger, Sarah Polley and Linh Dan Pham.

Diane Kruger & Jared Leto

The scale of the vision is very impressive, as is the make up. The attention to detail in the time periods is more drenched in the soundtrack than anything else, as we see Nemo in four timelines (as a young boy, a teenager, as a man and as the ancient last mortal man alive) it's the pop culture (and what girl he's with) which distinguishes everything. There are moments that could be considered homages, but then again there are some music video-style techniches obviously pinched from elsewhere (everything from Requiem for a Dream to the Spice Girls) and the cynic could cry "Hack job!" and there wouldn't be much of a defence. It's occasionally funny, very surreal and I feel I should have liked it more than I did because it has all the ingredients and heavily nods to a lot of films I aboslutely adore.

Sadly though I had to leave 20 mins before the end to try to catch my flight out of Venice, so I'm unable to know whether it all pulls together satisfactorily at the end. As it went, it was a very interesting, strange little film, with quite a lot to like about it amidst all the strangeness. Will definitely be seeing it again when it gets released as this is the kind of film that has "requires repeat viewings" written all over it.

Number of Miles worth travelling to see : 80 (1577 cumulative)

Right, so after all of that I find myself 33 miles short, but I think given that's just on value for the films and doesn't include the charms of Venice itself it was certainly worth my going. Thanks to the Shovel for pointing me in the direction of making it possible . Right, so prior to going I'd only seen one ***** 2009 film this year and I saw four at that rating or higher in under a week, which was a good return I felt. Sheppy Awards-time then, not going on in competition, but based on everything I saw, here's my picks of the festival :

Best Film :

Gold - Lo spazio bianco (White Space)
Silver - Zanan bedoone mardan (Women Without Men)
Bronze - The Men Who Stare At Goats

Best Actor :

Gold - Ewan McGregor, The Men Who Stare at Goats
Silver - Yoav Donat, Lebanon
Bronze - Sergio Castellitto, 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup

Best Actress :

Gold - Margherita Buy, Lo spazio bianco (White Space)
Silver - Isabelle Huppert, White Material
Bronze - Nelly Karim, One-Zero

Best Direction :

Gold - Francesca Comencini, Lo spazio bianco (White Space)
Silver - Shirin Neshat, Zanan bedoone mardan (Women Without Men)
Bronze - Samuel Maoz & Maoz Shmulik, Lebanon

Special Mentions :

The Screenplay of The Men Who Stare at Goats,
White Space's cinematography,
The Art Direction and Make Up of Mr. Nobody,
Lebanon's sound design,
The soundtracks of The Men Who Stare at Goats, White Space and Mr. Nobody.

The blog will resume normal service later tonight as I have a couple of films to talk about that were released in my absence (one of which is my most anticipated film of the year).