Director Terry Gilliam (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) has always been hit or miss, and I mean that as a compliment. The Monty Python alumnus and manic auteur is someone who I love as an artist, even if I don’t always love his art. In fact, I’m not sure any of his movies work wholly work, but they’re entirely his. His newest, The Zero Theorem, does nothing to change that.

The film stars Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) as Qohen, a computer programmer in an Orwellian future, who searches for the meaning of life while crunching numbers for the megacorporation that employs him. Waltz is a good match for Gilliam; he creates a bizarre character, but grounds him in an emotional reality where other actors take Gilliam material too over-the-top (e.g. Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys).

Gilliam’s working in my favourite mode here, where he’s more morose than manic. The movie takes its time and doesn’t devolve into chaos. The mise en scène is wonderfully twisted, particularly Qohen’s home, an abandoned monastery outfitted with computers.

The script, and its subtext, are the weak point. The corporate nightmare, dystopian future, and questionable reality are things other movies (some of them Gilliam’s) have explored better. His Luddite’s view that technology serves only to disconnect people is off-putting. During a party scene, in which people dance with headphones in ears and stare at phones, is painfully didactic. He thinks he’s being satirical, but it just feels like an old man complaining, “Kids these days!” The love interest played by Mélanie Thierry (Babylon A.D.) was a disappointment too. She exists only as an object to be sexually desired by Qohen. It’s not a problem unique to this movie, but it’s a trope I’m sick of.

But, despite these problems, I still enjoyed The Zero Theorem. Gilliam’s visual playfulness and unique sense of design will always make him interesting to me. I just wish this film had a little more to chew on.

Published in Volume 68, Number 29 of The Uniter (August 5, 2014)