THE ZERO THEOREM [2013]

THE REPETITION THEOREM


2013, UK
Terry Gilliam
6 // 10




Is money the only shortage Terry Gilliam must face these days? Is it possible to make a repeated idea look fresh? Does crunching entities give you a heartburn? There's only one way to find out!

Disappointed. Shortchanged. Let down. These are not the feelings I'm normally looking at, when reviewing Terry Gilliam's films. I am therefore horrified that these were the first words that came to my mind after watching The Zero Theorem. I remember well the times when a news about Terry starting work on a new film was a celebration. It is the first time for me though, when the results did not exceed the expectations. What's worse, they didn't even match them. Which is such a shame, since all the building blocks were there. With Terry revisiting some motifs and ideas he managed to develop into some of his best films before, with strong cast and interesting filming location, there was very little that could have gone wrong, it seemed. But then again, as sir Terry Pratchett had taught us, chances one in a million happen nine out of ten times. So things, indeed, did go wrong. Not terribly wrong but just, sort of, Tim Burton style wrong. When you think to yourself how-about-we-don't-see-Johnny-Depp-for-a-film-or-two kind of wrong. And while Burton did actually manage to come out of his Deppy cocoon, Gilliam does the opposite. He serves us Brazil all over again. Shame it's not even as good as, though. 

The biggest problem with The Zero Theorem is not that it goes back to certain motifs. After all, 12 Monkeys already did it (some even say those three films form a trilogy), the problem is that it doesn't seem to bring anything really new to the table. Visually, the shoestring budget shows. The Theorem looks more like an episode of Dr Who, than a cinema release (and believe me, coming from me it is NOT a compliment) and seems to consists a combination of random rubbish that complies with a generic Gilliam's aesthetic style. So is the story. Kafkaesque an Orwellian in exactly the same way as Brazil was but without a plot line strong enough to stand  out and carry the film in its own right like both Brazil and 12 Monkeys managed. Yes, there are enjoyable elements here, the crunching sequences are interesting, acting is as you'd expect (especially from Waltz and Swinton) and the look of Christoph Waltz in his virtual sex suit is iconic, but I really don't find much more than that. Even The Brothers Grimm felt more in control, where some visual references to say, Jabberwocky, were playful and enjoyable and didn't carry the displeasing whiff of autoplagiarism. So, I was hoping for more, I got what I got, the life goes on.

I guess I'll just have to wait for Don Quixote then.