We may not expect an Oscar nominated writer/directorto bring us a short film. But then we don’t often know what to expect from Yorgos Lanthimos (three nominations between The Lobster and The Favourite). Nimic is twelve minutes worth of the kind of surreal weirdness that makes Lanthimos’s films attractive to some (including me) and off-putting for others.
Matt Dillon plays a cellist and father. One day coming home on the subway, he asks a young woman (Daphne Patakia) for the time. A strange connection takes place which will affect their lives in a very bizarre way. The film could be categorized as either dark comedy or light horror.
Lanthimos often seems to deal with people who are losing their sense of identity and their place in the world. (Or maybe it’s really about finding a new place in the world.) In that way, this is very much in line with The Lobster and The Favourite. The surrealism of Lanthimos’s films leads us to some very existential questions of what it means to be who we think we are and who we are if we are not that person. Of course, such depths often surprise us in short films. Just as we settle in for a brief entertainment, we have to ask ourselves what it all means.
Photos courtesy of Mubi.
Nimic can be seen on the streaming service Mubi.
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