Mr. Nobody & New-New-York

In 2009, the film Mr. Nobody was released.   It is one of my favorite movies, and stars one of my top celebrity crushes, Jared Leto.  Mr. Nobody is about the paradox of choice, mainly.  Society presumes that better options and greater happiness comes from more choices.  This movie shows that an overload of choice can lead to us questioning our decisions before we even make them.  We have unrealistically high expectations, and blame ourselves for every single failure we have.  This eventually will cause us to not make any decisions, due to the fear of making the wrong one.  And in a society like the one we live in, there is a lot of pressure to be perfect, especially in a world with so many options.

The reason I want to blog about Mr. Nobody is because the film starts off in the future, in New-New-York, and I want to describe that future to you.  It is a time of “quasi-immortality” and “telemerization”, which they call the endless renewal of cells, and a time where smoking, and driving cars doesn’t happen, and where sex is obsolete.  Nemo Nobody is 118 years old and is the last living mortal on Earth.  He wakes up in a completely white room to a man sitting in front of him.  This man is dressed in all white, but has black tattoos covering his entire head.  Nemo doesn’t remember him, but is immediately reminded that he sees him every single week, almost like a therapy session.  There is a floating camera with fast-moving wings documenting everything Mr. Nobody is saying.  The tattooed man asked Nemo his name, where he says, “Nobody. Nemo Nobody.”  Nemo is told that that’s an unusual name (as if it is a made up name) to which he responds, “Sometimes people call me Mr. CRAFT. C-R-A-F-T; Can’t Remember A Fucking Thing.”  The man continues to ask Nemo basic questions, and then asks him how old he is.  “I’m 34. I was born in 1975.”  Nemo is told to look at his hands, and he then sees that he is much, much older than 34.  He is asked the year. “2009. I was born February 9, 1975.”  Nemo is now shown a moving, virtual kind of newspaper with the front page reading, “THE LAST MORTAL TURNS 118” with a moving picture of him on it.  He keeps insisting that he is 34, and is now convinced he is dreaming. 

The movie now jumps to one of the three lives of Nemo’s we are shown throughout the movie.  We are unsure the entire time which is the real one.  Back in the future now, Nemo has tests being done on him while he sleeps.  We are shown the city of New-New-York, which has pointy buildings, transportation that moves at the speed of light, and almost everything appears to be made of glass and acts as a television screen.  There is man on the screens with a small microphone coming out of his actual cheek.  He is the host of the television series “The Last Mortal.”  (We see here that something everyone in this future has is compatible pigs…)  The TV host is not talking to the doctor from before.  It’s said that Nemo’s records are nowhere to be found, and nothing at all is known about his past.  While the doctor explains Mr. Nobody’s situation, we see other futuristic places in the city. First, we see a bar.  Some people are naked, some people are clothed, but are dressed in feathers or light-up clothing.  It reminds me of Star Wars actually.  Glasses are shaped differently, and the screen the bar people are watching just appears in the air like a projection.  We then see a dentist’s office.  The only difference I noticed here was that the patient had no shirt on.  Then a hair salon is shown.  It looks different from the hair salons we are used to seeing, and the hairstyles themselves are interesting. 

This possible future, I worry, is more likely to happen then not.  I feel like we are already so close with where we are headed technologically.  We keep thinking it’s a good thing, but as anyone would see in Mr. Nobody, there’s really nothing very good about it.  No one appears to be in pain or anything like that.  Everyone appears lifeless for the most part though; brainwashed.  Although as I said before that this movie’s main message is about the choices we make in our lives, everyone should watch it anyway.  Just to get your own opinion on this New-New-York, and if that’s what you think this world will eventually turn into.