Wrap Your Brain Around This Trailer For Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem
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Anything Terry Gilliam does automatically rockets to the top of my must see list. Brazil and Twelve Monkeys rank among my personal favorites. So of course, his upcoming film The Zero Theorem is high on the list of films I’m ridiculously excited about. If you’re not amped for this yet, watch this new trailer, and you will be. Warning, you should probably do watch this sooner rather than later, because odds are, this video is going to get yanked from ye olde interweb before long.
There are definite echoes of Brazil in the frantic bureaucracy present in this three-minute trailer for The Zero Theorem. Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained) is a reclusive computer programmer. A genius, he is also wracked with anxiety, angst, and many, many layers of neurosis, so much so that all of his hair has all fallen out. While working on a project to uncover the reason for existence—the Zero Theorem, in which everything adds up to nothing, and vice versa—he is interrupted and blocked at every turn, and frustrated beyond belief.
This trailer is vintage Gilliam, and hopefully marks a return to form for the filmmaker who has had some misses as of late. There are stunning visuals, intricate stagings, a twisted futuristic dystopia, weirdness all around, strange and dangerous romance, and a variety of other hallmarks of the director’s work. The Zero Theorem looks bizarre and touching and thought provoking at the same time.
In addition to Waltz, which should be a selling point on its own, The Zero Theorem also stars Melaine Thierry, David Thewlis, Tilda Swinton, Matt Damon, Ben Whishaw, and many more. There’s no set release date yet, but some theorize that it may premiere at the Venice Film Festival later this year.
