Nowhere (1997) Review by Larry McGillicuddy Copyright Larry McGillicuddy 1997
1/2* (out of 4) Directed by Greg Arraki Starring James Duval, Rachel True, Kathleen Robertson, Ryan Phillippe, Sarah Lassez, Christina Applegate
Gregg Araki's The Doom Generation was possibly the very worst film ever made. So why did I see his latest teen bisexual angst opus? First of all, some of the reviews were fairly positive. Also, the cast, consisting of cameos from dozens of washed up ex tv stars (including Christopher Knight, Eve Plumb, Shannen Doherty, and David Leisure) was promising. Last of all, I wanted to give Arraki one more chance. I mean, the guy can't be THAT untalented, can he? The answer to that question is three letters long.
Nowhere follows the character Dark on his wild and odd journey through Los Angeles. Since Arraki doesn't know how to make anything coherent, it's hard to describe the plot. Let's just say that Dark spends the bulk of the movie whining that his girlfriend won't make a commitment to him and jealous because she sleeps around with other guys and girls. The only remotely compelling storyline involves Sarah Lassez as a teen who has a chance encounter with a famous tv star. He turns out to be a nice guy who doesn't care for fame and wishes he could walk down the street without being mobbed by fans. This story has a shocking twist and a tragic end that I did not see coming. It is the first time I ever felt any compassion for a character created by Arraki, and this can be attributed to the appealing performance of Lassez.
I thought maybe Arraki was improving in his craft. He works better with the camera this time around, especially in the early scenes. Halfway through the film, I didn't necessarily find myself enjoying the film, but it seemed like a considerable improvement on The Doom Generation. Then as the movie went on, Arraki loses all sensibility and introduces us to exploding heads, twisted sex games, and alien abductions. It's sad, because he almost actually had some decent material here, but he ruined it with his usual in your face "I'm such a renegade maverick filmmaker, look what I can do" attitude.
The performances are generally better than in The Doom Generation, which isn't saying much. At least we don't have to suffer Jonathan "I am the most hideous man in America" Schaech. We are, however treated to another round of James "I'm more wooden than Keanu" Duval. Sarah Lassez gives the best performance in the film, and Kathleen Robertson (formerly of 90210 and now Arraki's wife) and Rachel True are talented actresses caught up in this mess. Of the tv star cameos, John Ritter is the most interesting as a deranged right wing tv evangelist.
If I prefer Nowhere to The Doom Generation, it is only in the way that I would prefer being assassinated than receive constant physical torture. Maybe Greg Arraki doesn't want you to like his characters. Maybe he wants to laugh and make fun of those of us who try to care about them. Maybe he just wanted to piss me off. If so, he was successful.
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