When Danish author Janne Teller released her novel NOTHING in 2010, its supremely dark blend of existential dread and childhood innocence created quite a stir. Hugely popular, it seemed only a matter of time before someone would snap up the rights and adapt Teller’s words for the big screen. Thanks to directors Trine Piil Christensen and Seamus McNally, that time has finally come. Initially released in May in Denmark, NOTHING finally made its International Premiere at Austin’s Fantastic Fest 2022.
Both the novel and the film revolve around a group of middle-school-age classmates. One day, a boy named Pierre Anthon (Harald Kaiser Hermann) reaches his limit. Disillusioned and frustrated, he quits school, climbs up a tree and refuses to come down due to the senselessness of it all. Understandably concerned about their friend and his sudden nihilistic views on the world, the remaining group set out to prove Pierre Anthon wrong.
To do this, the group decides to make a literal heap of personal sacrifices to show Pierre Anthon that life, and many things in it, do indeed have meaning. Spearheaded by a young girl named Agnes (Vivelill Søgaard Holm), this altruistic and sweet gesture quickly spirals into something else entirely. For the sacrifices to have real meaning, each group member selects a sacrifice for another. As resentment quickly builds, these sacrifices grow from sandals and bikes into serious (and criminal) asks that include virginity, body parts, and the life of an innocent (TW: animal violence).
Showcasing a supremely dark LORD OF THE FLIES-esque tone, setting up the kids and their dynamic, was a crucial task for NOTHING. Luckily, it’s one the film does rather well. All the actors look age-appropriate, and their wardrobes, mannerisms, and surroundings come off as authentic. Even the performances and dialogue are, overall, quite good. This film component was paramount to really sell the rapid escalation in sacrifices. If any link in this chain buckled, the whole heap would have crumbled around them.
This same storytelling chain gains further strength from NOTHING’s literal presentation. Beautifully shot by cinematographer Bo Bilstrup, the world never looks too artificial or stylized. Visually grounded in reality, the horror of the kid’s behavior and the narrative’s overt discussion of life’s meaninglessness feel uncomfortably believable. As the group feeds off each other’s anger, fear and increasingly violent behavior, they develop their own tiny groupthink cell within their larger community. While adults surround all the kids, they are (in classic horror fashion) too involved with their own lives to see their kids struggling.
Packed with thought-provoking ideas and some truly horrifying scenes, the biggest disappointment in NOTHING falls on its pacing. Although it takes such wonderful care to set up its engaging array of main characters and the steps leading up to their loss of innocence, the film’s back half rapidly cruises through some significant narrative moments. Not only does this feel a bit jarring, but it also undermines some of the more exciting conversations the film starts earlier on. Rather than exploring these narrative developments and how they impact what all the kids are struggling with, it’s almost as if the film checks a box and moves on.
Ultimately, NOTHING will leave you with…something. Admirable in its unflinching portrayal of youthful innocence and its ability to grapple with some of life’s most complicated questions, it never takes a bold stance in what it, the kids, or Pierre Anthon is trying to say. As such, it leaves a lingering aftertaste of ambiguity, unease and bitter existential dread. But then again, maybe that’s the point, right? While stories and films like NOTHING certainly have their place and carry strong artistic value, tread lightly and deliberately. NOTHING is not a journey for the faint of heart.
Tags: Bo Bilstrup, Denmark, Fantastic Fest 2022, Harald K. Hermann, Horror, Janne Teller, Peter Gantzler, Seamus McNally, Trine Piil, Trine Piil Christensen, Vivelill S. Holm
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