Venice

Nowhere Man

 (Belgium- Netherlands-Norway-Luxembourg)

By EDDIE COCKRELL

A Kinepolis (in Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg) release of a La Parti (Belgium)/Circe Films (Netherlands)/Friland (Norway)/Tarantula (Luxembourg)/Savage Film, Rona Films (Belgium) production. (International sales: Funny Balloons, Paris.) Produced by Vincent Tavier, Philippe Kauffmann. Directed by Patrice Toye. Screenplay, Bjorn Olaf Johannessen, Toye, from Johannessen's story.
 
With: Frank Vercruyssen, Sara De Roo, Muzaffer Ozdemir, Els Olaerts, Nicholas Beveney, Koen De Graeve.
(Dutch, English dialogue)
 

Going exactly where it says in the title, "Nowhere Man" squanders a strong first act to emerge as a droopy existential dramedy about a happily married fortysomething who has the chance to assume a fresh identity but regrets it almost immediately. Preeming nearly simultaneously in Montreal fest competish and the Venice Days strand on the Lido, pic faces an uphill battle to move beyond fest slots and regional play.

Tomas (Frank Vercruyssen) is so secretive about his unhappiness that his loving wife Sara (Sara De Roo) has no idea he's rudderless and miserable. While looking through a picture book on decorative laces, he discovers a stranger's passport and a photograph of a dilapidated Caribbean saloon. Shortly thereafter, while on his way to buy fertilizer for the garden, he rushes into a burning house and sneaks out the back to a plane for the island.

Once there, however, he soon quickly realizes his mistake. Nobody sets foot in the grungy pub from the photo, the economy's severely depressed and the locals are hostile.

Five years later, he returns home defeated, only to find Sara remarried to the genial Michel (Koen De Graeve). Recovering from her initial shock, she locks him in an unfurnished apartment and they become lovers.

Central conceit of the screenplay (by research-scientist-turned-scriptwriter Bjorn Olaf Johannessen and helmer Patrice Toye) is a subversive one, taking a widespread midlife-crisis fantasy to a conclusion both logical and rarely explored. Yet, despite the fact that the script won the 2006 Sundance/NHK Intl. Filmmakers Award under the title "The Spring Ritual," once Tomas concludes his time in paradise at the 45-minute mark, pic loses focus and momentum.

Pic reps Toye's first theatrical outing since 1998's probing adolescent drama "Rosie," and is more workmanlike in execution. Adult stars of that solid debut, hirsute Vercruyssen and brooding De Roo, are again on the helmer's wavelength.

Tech package is tidy, though provocative visual imagery in daydream sequences scattered throughout never coalesce into a memorable whole.

Camera (color, widescreen), Richard van Oosterhout; editor, Nico Leunen; music, John Parish; production designer, Vincent de Pater; costume designer, Margriet Procee; sound (DTS stereo), Jan Deca. Reviewed at Montreal World Film Festival (competing), August 28, 2008. (Also in Venice Film Festival -- Venice Days.) Running time: 96 MIN.