Ein Mann, drei Leben – Mr. Nobody

Until about the middle the film was getting four stars, aiming at five if it managed to pull out a great ending. In the second half, however, it gets a bit too complex, and unnecessarily and pointlessly so given how simple the twist is. It’s nice to watch, the direction is top-notch (even though it’s a rip-off of a rip-off in its own way), but the idea gets stuck somewhere at the beginning of the journey. At times, it reminded me of an acquaintance who likes to quote Gandhi and “eruditely” speaks about Plato’s world of ideas, mixing in a drop of physical theories (about which I never heard and I suspect he made them up) and believes he’s very smart, even though his blog looks like the work of a basic school pupil. Mr. Nobody could have been a very good film, but for that it should have kept its feet more on the ground. I don’t regret watching it, but I believe it can’t offer anything to anyone (provided they don’t think it up themselves), because it doesn’t have anything. (20.07.2010)

Die weichgekochtesten Klischees, die in Quacksalbern über das Raum-Zeit-Kontinuum und Kausalität verhüllt sind, werden in einer im Bollywood-Stil aufgeblähten Umhüllung serviert. Meiner Ansicht nach ist dies eine aufgeblasene, langweilige Blase, von welcher nach dem Zusammenbrechen nichts als der Mief erfreulicher Sätze oder unterwürfiger Witze über das Leben und überhaupt übrigbleibt. Wir können dies mit The Fountain - Quell des Lebens vergleichen, mit Vergiss mein nicht!, mit dem Butterfly Effect... im Vergleich zum ersten, fehlt es dem Film Ein Mann, drei Leben – Mr. Nobody an Visuellem und Schauspielerischem, im Vergleich zum zweiten fehlen die Ideen und im Vergleich zum dritten fehlt es an Spannung. Ein Film, welcher das Leben zu einem Spielplatz erklärt, jedoch selbst anstatt zu spielen etwas vorgibt, was er nicht sein kann. Nein, Danke. (08.07.2010)

I'm not surprised that Jaco van Dormael hasn't made and won't make another film on such a large scale. Despite the philosophical and conceptual attempt to transcend the universe, his monument is filled with the unique and intimate, endless power of joy and sorrow. The author must have poured his soul into both versions, because I haven't seen so many impactful encounters, embraces, farewells, or insights for a long time, each pushing the narrative and mood forward by a significant margin. It's not a perfect work, nor is it all-embracing; its length, especially in the director's cut, unnecessarily extends into places where nothing new is found. But there are so many electrifying connections in the right places that it is worth seeing for dreamers and cynics alike. (04.08.2020)

This is nothing more than stylishly directed nonsense. Maybe it's just a message for those who claim that the king has luxurious golden embroidered clothes adorned with jewels. Unfortunately, the king is naked and the only remarkable thing about him is how proudly he displays his nudity and pretends to have depth of thought when he is as flat as a sheet of paper. Overall impression: you can't go into the negative, so three underlined zeroes. (10.06.2014)

A clever movie for average people? That’s what Chris Nolan is trying to do right now. Personally, I didn’t much like the director’s intention, but even I have to take my hat off to how he managed to combine dozens of inspirations into one functional whole. I had one story in my mind that Mr. Nobody draws on a lot (damn it!), but here they wrapped it in currently trendy sci-fi effects, but they left the fundamental basis and I was intrigued to see how they worked with the theme that I already saw somebody else wrestle with before. Quite interesting. And for those who didn’t understand how it ended. The answer to your question is... You choose. (16.07.2010)

I didn't quite understand what the poet meant by that. It is extremely rich in expressive means, with plenty of imaginative scenes and ambiguous characters, quality performances, and dreamy atmosphere. It is similar to "Odyssean" works like Cloud Atlas, but it doesn’t work as well. (26.04.2014)

From the very beginning, the film pretends to be so artsy and clever that it stumbles on its own feet as it progresses, and falls short in its attempt to captivate the viewer on several fronts at once. I can't deny, of course, that it's beautifully and originally shot, that Jared Leto is a phenomenal actor, and that all the amazing shots have something to them in the overall context, but other than that, the film, with its complex composition and constant interweaving of several storylines, completely messed with my head and spouted one question mark after another, it failed to awaken any other feelings in me, and its precise cynicism didn’t allow me to experience the story of the main characters in any deeper way, which was probably a necessity in this case. Maybe the strength of the film would affect me more with a second viewing, but to be honest I hardly have the courage to do that. (25.04.2013)

Interesting use of music, interesting scenes, good performances, great ideas, but all of that in something that is just a jumble of ideas, but holds together only because from the beginning you have a feeling that it is something important. And it is not. This is simply just a game for the viewer that does not lead to a successful ending. (01.10.2015)

How I love these "fated", biographical, and "life" movies... I don't want to go into the climax here, or address what made what sense and why -- because I had so many feelings and emotions (in something akin to Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) wrestling inside me for those two hours that any complaints about the cheapness, superficiality, or how Mr. Nobody desperately tries to be a film about everything, while being a thousand times warmed-over cliché about practically nothing, are completely beyond me. Jared Leto (whoever suggested him for the role deserves a golden figurine :)) rocks in a role not quite typical for him, but in an all the more interesting acting position(s). Okay, not to jinx it – I admit it was a bit overwrought at times, but that doesn't change the fact of how brilliantly narrated is was, how emotive, and how much heart it has :)) Damn, this movie got me :)), because it really has something to it. (04.08.2010)