the man from the future [2011]

what a time of abundance this is because instead of hurling myself into the maelstrom of an old fashioned video store to search among a limited number of titles lining the shelves to see a movie i merely flip on the TV switch over to the HDMI cable and browse among -- thousands, tens of thousands? -- of titles via online streaming services.  oh, i am so a 21st C boy!  i still love the hard copy.  i own a smattering of VHS tapes, some long out of print titles, and several hundred DVDs.  i pulled out my copy of barfly [1987] a couple nights ago because i wanted to watch mickey rourke ape the booze poetics of charles bukowksi.  it had been a while since i watched that flick.  been even longer since i hooked up my old VCR.  i have a terrific reading by thom gunn given at the lannan foundation in 1994 on VHS that i like to watch every now and again.

but of course i digress.  after a long day -- week, really -- of some much needed, long overdue, house chores i settled down and flipped open netflix and scanned the titles.  this feature sounded interesting, a brazilian comedy starring the wonderful wagner moura as a brilliant physicist nicknamed zero who is determined to develop a new form of energy.  instead he inadvertently created a time machine.  this time machine deposits zero back to november 22, 1991 at the party where his life changed forever.  the love of his life, helena, played by the gorgeous alinne moraes, publicly humiliates our hero then dumps him for a successful, world famous, modelling career.  sounds like a very mean move, and it is, but the reason for it is adequately explained deeper in the film.  helena dubs our sad sack, hang dog lover 'zero' at this party, a name that sticks to him for the rest of his days.

but now zero has the chance to change the future.  he takes that chance and the results are not what he expected nor wanted.  so he tries again, and there are three zeros at the same point in time and space.  zany.  writer/director claudio torres keeps things light and manic.  moura is delight to watch as he struggles with his selves to create and/or undo the futures he put in motion.  instead of a recursive loop of time where things could repeat forever and ever director torres keeps time linear in order to hold the narrative together.

it works very well.  does zero become a hero?  do cows poop in the pasture?  you know how this flick will end from the start.  the tone is light and the energy high for this is not a dark film.  zero is a likable goofball and helena is worthy of his antics.  this movie is a pleasure to behold and a wonderful discovery to make after a long day of household chores.