Nothing Review: Underwhelming Results!
Nothing (formerly titled Intet) is a sombre examination of adolescent behaviour and the depths to which they will go in order to make a point, even when given little opportunity to comprehend why they are acting in such an irrational and violent manner. The Janne Teller novel was adapted for the movie by Trine Piil Christensen, who also created the script, and Seamus McNally. The movie is full of strong concepts and fascinating character interactions, especially as the seemingly normal 14-year-olds start to spiral and take violent and dark turns. The drama can be tense to watch, but there is something lacking in the execution that would make it gripping and suspenseful.
A test is given to a group of 14-year-olds to ascertain the career pathways they would follow. They are initially perplexed since they don't comprehend why they must make decisions regarding their futures so quickly. The most irate of his classmates is Pierre Anthon (Harald Kaiser Hermann), who tells his fellow students and the teacher that nothing matters and that this test shows they are nothing more than gears in the system. The suggestion that nothing matters injures his classmates. How could Pierre Anthon say something like that? The pupils, under the direction of Agnes (Vivelill Sgaard Holm), set out to disprove Pierre Anthon by challenging one another to undertake extraordinary actions that would demonstrate their significance. One student's brother's tomb was dug up, and a finger was sacrificed. Needless to say, as the teens' behaviour becomes more violent, things spiral out of control.
Although the teens in this setting are never forced to leave the security of their own neighbourhood, nothing here is modelled after Lord of the Flies. Instead, the video examines how uncomfortable individuals are with the notion that their lives are meaningless. They forget that they, too, were upset and perplexed about being compelled to choose a career path for their lives when they had so little time to fully understand it or experience it. They are so driven to prove something to Pierre Anthon. It reveals how void they feel and how little control they have over their own life that they would resort to such harsh and repugnant measures in order to feel anything at all.
Nothing is intriguing and gloomy overall, but it falls short of its potential. As the kids pursue their objective for a longer period of time, the movie becomes grimmer and more terrifying, but there is a discrepancy between their acts and the underlying feelings associated with them. The absence of suspense and intensity also causes the film's slow-burn to end earlier than anticipated.