FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.


Nowhere isn't going anywhere
Dreadful generational film ends trilogy on an abysmal note

Nowhere
Starring James Duval, Rachel True, Kathleen Robertson and Nathan Bexton Directed by Gregg Araki
Runs Friday, July 18 - July 24

Blick. Spit. Puke. If there is a worse movie to be released this summer - although highly unlikely - please let it go straight to the far left corner on the bottom shelf of an old, independent video store. Nowhere is as void as its name. Los Angeles has never looked less welcoming. Youths have never looked more degenerate. Teenage angst films have never been so depressing. And thankfully, movies are rarely this dreadful.

Revolving around a group of misdirected LA youngsters, Nowhere is the last of Gregg Araki's "Teen Apocalypse Trilogy" on the doom generation. Apparently this is the lightest and poppiest of the three (thank the Almighty that I missed the first two). In the span of a single day, the film follows main characters Dark (James Duval), his girlfriend Mel (Rachel True), her girlfriend Lucifer (Kathleen Robertson) and the object of Dark's desire, Montgomery (Nathan Bexton), from one surreal environment to another as they find ways to escape their trite LA existence.

While Araki's intention may have been to have Nowhere embody pop culture with its hallucinogenic quality and blasts from the past (Charlotte Rae, John Ritter and Shannen Doherty - poor girl, already a has-been), it is closer in appearance to a high school film project than a feature film. The whole production just seems to be trying too hard to be a hip, dark anti-movie. The script is overdone. Surely there are some teens in the city of angels that can form complete and comprehensible sentences. The performances are, at best, lackluster, James Duval being the worst of all. His talent doesn't even match that of his talentless look-a-like, Keanu Reeves. And the photography and editing only cement the disjointedness and chaos of the film with crude cuts and not-quite-trippy camera angles.

The chaos of Nowhere isn't hip and happening, but tiresome and annoying.

Back To Main Contents
Back To This Issue Table of Contents