Film Review: Terry Gilliam - The Zero Theorem

When Terry Gilliam releases a new film, it’s kind of like rolling a dice.

Roll: Twelve Monkeys , Amazing. Roll: Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas , Classic. Roll: Brazil, Just being plain weird. Roll: Brothers Grimm  ... Shite.

So naturally when I discovered he was releasing a new film called The Zero Theorem and got tickets for the preview, a mixture of feelings rushed through me. Anticipation for what could be another great film, but also a dash of fear, fear that I would be trapped in a hellish nightmare of a cinema, watching another Doctor Parnassus type film, unable to escape.

The Zero Theorem was weird as fuck. No doubt about it. However it did not make me want to run out of the cinema crying, rather it kept my interest throughout. It might be because I'm used to Gilliam being strange and can cope with it quite well. In fact the last film I watched by him (Tideland) centred on a little girl living with her dad’s corpse somewhere remote in Texas. And I found it pretty heart warming in all fairness.

Christoph Waltz’ acting is incredible throughout the film. I have been a huge fan of his since watching Inglourious Basterds , or more recently Django, but seeing him pull off such a complicated lead part was really amazing. He plays the role of Qohen Leth, who is pretty much just a lunatic waiting and working to find the meaning of life, he’s also afraid of pretty much everything.

Melanie Thierry is utterly enticing as Brainsley, a cyber hooker who play a pretty crucial part in the overall confusion of the film. Lucas Hedge played the awesome role of Bob, Managements 15 year old, super intelligent, pizza loving son. Management is played by Matt Damon who doesn’t really have to do much, but still comes out looking better than he did in Brothers Grim.

If any of that confused you, go watch the film, I promise you will still be confused afterwards. But everything is done so well and visually it’s so incredible, that you can’t help but enjoy it in some bizarre and weird way. Maybe there’s some hidden, deep and intelligent message hidden in the film, I will certainly re-watch it to try and find out. But part of me just hopes Gilliam wanted to fuck with our minds, whilst a great cast agreed to go along for the ride.

Any thoughts or comments leave below, or catch me on Twitter @grayscaleuk.

- Misael Trujillo