Review of Zero Effect (1998) by Heinz H — 19 Aug 2009

Found this movie on Netflix instant view a couple nights ago and I was amused because I had just quoted it to a couple of people a few weeks ago. Haven't seen it in forever, and I forgot about the unique tone of the film. Watching it again, I find it hard to make a comparison to something else more accessible or wider known. I think Zero Effect is kinda an original.

The thing that sets it apart is the strange mix between quirky independent comedy, penetrating character drama, and noir-ish mind twisting mystery. The most obvious comparison to draw here is that it is clearly an updating of the Sherlock Holmes character, complete with drug addiction, musical experimentation, and social awkwardness. So in that way, the Daryl Zero character played by Bill Pullman is also reminicient (or rather prescient) of the Dr. House character on House MD, which draws from the same well of inspiration. But aside from using Holmes as a jumping off point, and having the general structure of a mystery story, the movie really diverges from all other incarnations of that character.

As with all the best film noir stories, the mystery is not the ultimate point. The mystery simply gives the characters something interesting to do. And the characters are really the point. Ultimately, the mystery structure gives us a model to jump into the question of who these characters are, and they are extremely well-drawn, three-dimensional characters with horrible flaws, regrets and desires, that come to light.

And yet, with all the horrible, tortured backstories that come to light, the movie allows for a considerable sense of humor, in particular in Bill Pullman's career best performance as the lead. Pullman's Daryl Zero character is the very definition of a quirky indie movie character. He's hilariously funny and yet deadly serious at the same time. The tone he strikes with his performance is an extraordinarily delicate balance of several conflicting character elements which result in a completely disarming sense of vulnerability.

Jake Kasdan's script is wonderfully written in sequences where people are lying to each other, but everyone knows or at least suspects the lie. So there's an underlying sense of double meanings to almost everything that everyone says in the film. The performances capture a sense of tension that even mounts to romantic tension. Kasdan, who would later be more known for comedic efforts and TV directing, has an incredible feel for the ambiguous drama of his script here.

Also priceless here, though in a more subtle capacity, is the cinematographer, Bill Pope, a truly fantastically talented cinematographer who would later go on to shoot the Matrix movies amongst other great photography. Here in Zero Effect, the budget is clearly lower, and the cinematography much less flashy, but perhaps even more important to the film because the movie is made up mostly of simple conversation sequences, and yet it never feels like a talking head movie. The cinematography is subtly atmospheric, and Pope's camera moves elegantly and restlessly giving the conversations a sense of visual rhythm to match the impeccably timed performance rhythm that the actors are able to create.

This is another film that I simply cannot find fault with in any way. Even 10 years later and with some distance. It is an underappreciated gem of a film.