NIRVANA - DVD review

Italian writer-director Garbriele Salvatores is not your ordinary cheapjack moviemaker, as earlier films like "Mediterraneo" (1991) and "I'm Not Scared" (2003) testify. He is not as willing as some other directors are to go after easy thrills but is more concerned about human nature, emotions, and interactions. Which may explain why his 1997 sci-fi cyberpunk film "Nirvana" was never released theatrically in the United States and is only now making its première on DVD. The movie never lives up to the expectations most sci-fi fans have of their subject.

You see, Salvatores' penchant for psychological subtlety does not necessarily make for either an entertaining or an enlightening movie experience, and "Nirvana" may for a lot of viewers just sit there on the TV screen as it did for me, going nowhere and taking its time about it. In this regard the movie reminded me a lot of Steven Soderbergh's "Solaris," a film with higher ambitions than its lifeless script could deliver.

"Nirvana" was not based on yet another story by Philip K. Dick, but it could easily have been and, indeed, it seems probable it was inspired by the author whose fount of such material never seemed to run dry. Think of "Blade Runner," "Total Recall," "Screamers," "Imposter," "Minority Report," "Paycheck," and other such Dick-inspired films, and you'll have a pretty good idea what "Nirvana" is all about, with the big exception that this one isn't as interesting as the others mentioned.

Like most such future-noir stories, the setting is supposed to be some indefinite time to come, though clearly not too long from now. In fact, the automobiles, computer hardware, and electronics in the film look positively ancient by today's standards, so the actual date is hard to determine. Anyway, the movie stars Christopher Lambert as a computer programmer named Jimi Dina, who has just created an action-shooter game called, you guessed it, "Nirvana." The only trouble is, he discovers that one of the characters in his game, Solo (Diego Abatantuono), has developed a personality of his own and is aware of it. In other words, the computer character is thinking for himself.

Jimi begins to feel sorry for Solo, trapped in a computer game where he has to be shot dead every two minutes and then start all over again, so Jimi decides to cancel the game altogether before it can be duplicated a million times over and poor Solo has to suffer eternally. (Presumably, Jimi is also a little troubled about his Godlike ability to create a sentient being, but that detail is hardly pursued at all in the film.) Jimi's problem is that the game is already the property of the big computer conglomerate he works for, and in order to do delete the program, he has to hack into his company's mainframe, find it, and destroy it. The only person he knows who can accomplish the job is a fellow named Joystick (Sergio Rubini), who hangs out in the roughest, toughest, most-dangerous part of town, Marrakech, with a fellow programmer, the beautiful Naima (Stefania Rocca). And, just coincidentally, Jimi's old girlfriend, Lisa (Emmanuelle Siegner), was also last heard of residing in Marrakech.

So Jimi begins his odyssey, heading out on an adventure to Marrakech to locate Joystick, delete his game, and find his long-lost love. But this is no ordinary adventure, as I indicated at the beginning. The movie aspires to more than that. "Nirvana" may be the name of a game Jimi is trying to find and delete, but it's also the state of consciousness he's trying to achieve. It appears he is seeking to free himself from the pains and worry of this world and find true peace of mind as well.

We can see early on that the "Nirvana" game becomes a metaphor for life, a fascinating premise that, unfortunately, isn't taken anywhere. Which "reality" is the real world, Jimi's or Solo's? Both characters feel like what's going on around them is "real." Then there are the names in Jimi's own world that sound like computer-game words--places like Marrakech, Bombay City, Shanghai Town, and the Gunga Hotel, with swamis and yogis running around--which should be clues as to where all of this is heading. Which character is really trapped in a make-believe universe? The ending is ambiguous at best, so not even writer-director Salvatores probably had any serious answers to the dilemma. And I'm certain he wanted it that way--to leave it up to his viewers to decide what was real for themselves. Yet it's frustrating when the viewer is never given enough to work with but obscure hints.

About halfway through all of this, I had the feeling that any semblance of sense and continuity had disappeared, as Jimi's game and Jimi's reality began to merge ("organ hunters" are a facet of Jimi's game and Jimi's reality; Jimi wears a device on his face that looks like a metal version of the facehugger in "Alien"; and so on). The characters in "Nirvana" are similar to the ones in "Pleasantville"; they all think they're real, but their lives are pre-programmed. Salvatores tries to make highfalutin inferences about topics like destiny and free will and ultimate serenity, but the results come out so scrambled and so vague as to be practically useless.

Two of the best parts of the movie are its photography and its sets. But even here, the movie echoes many, far-better films. The camera angles, colors, and props remind one of any number of previous sci-fi/fantasy releases from "Planet of the Apes" to "Logan's Run" to "Tron"; and the dark tone of the sets, especially the crowded, outdoor street scenes, are straight out of "Blade Runner." Still, it all looks pretty good. Plus, I liked several of the supporting players, Solo in particular, the befuddled video-game character, and Joystick, with his grotesque eye implants.

The least effective parts of the film are its derivative themes; its muddled pseudo-spiritual meandering; its impassive acting from star Christopher Lambert, who smiles faintly on a couple of occasions; and the fact that by the time it ends, the film has simply degenerated into a long, tired chase sequence.

Worse, in addition to clichéd ideas, there is no genuine sense of danger or suspense in the movie. If "Nirvana" is not going to satisfy a viewer on the level of an action thriller or a philosophical quest, then what is its purpose? The movie concludes with the notion that each of us, perhaps all of existence, is merely "a crystal of snow in the firmament." That's actually an impressive idea, but it isn't developed enough here to generate a very engrossing motion picture.

Video:
Except for a little more grain than I would have liked and perhaps a slightly too darkish overall appearance, the picture quality is pretty good. It's transferred to disc in an anamorphic widescreen scope that measures a ratio approximately 1.75:1 across my standard-screen Sony HD television, and a reasonably high bit rate delivers deep, solid colors. There are times when the image looks a little rough, but most of the time it is quite sharp and vivid.

Audio:
At first I wasn't too impressed by the Dolby Digital 5.1 sonics. It appeared to me that all of the sound was coming from up front and almost nothing from the surrounds. But as the movie progressed, I noticed the sound opening up, producing small ambient noises in the rear and sides of the room, street noises, crowd noises, and then a barking dog that I swore was outside my window. Later, a restaurant scene comes off so realistically you can hear every plate clattering in the kitchen. The bass could be stronger, as well as the dynamics, but otherwise we have good, clean audio here.

What isn't so easy to take is the fact that the film has been dubbed in English, with most everyone saying things that don't quite match their lip movements. I suppose you could count this a plus for contributing a touch of added surrealism to the story, but I found it distracting.

Extras:
Nothing here. Maybe Buena Vista pushed the "Delete" button and erased all the bonus materials or something. What we do have are a measly thirteen scene selections; English as the only spoken language; French and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired. Nevertheless, you can understand BV's reluctance to spend a lot of money on this release.

Parting Shots:
"Nirvana" has a lot going for it in terms of its basic premise and its look. But as I've said, not enough is done with its subject matter that isn't highly derivative and easily anticipated. Throw in some fairly uninteresting, blasé characters and a few bits and pieces of a half dozen other sci-fi movies we've all seen, and the results are less than what they could have been. Still, for fans of the genre, the film might be fun for a single run-through.