” and its ilk by posing an intriguing question: If you can’t eat, drink or wear art — if its pleasures and purpose are purely aesthetic at minimum, and spiritual at best — what earthly good is it? It’s a question that, under the circumstances of the film, is far from rhetorical.Dafoe plays a burglar named Nemo in the heady narrative debut of Greek filmmaker Vasilis Katsoupis, working from a screenplay by Ben Hopkins.
in which the artist temporarily duct-taped art dealer Massimo De Carlo to a gallery wall; and a neon sculpture by David Horvitz that reads, “All the time that will come after this moment.”Among the names included in the closing credits — what the film calls the “Inside Art Collection” — areNone of it is mere set dressing. The movie has its own curator: Leonardo Bigazzi from the Florence-based organization, which explores the dialogue between the disciplines of moving and still images.
The allusions to crucifixion, martyrdom, entrapment, escape, time and eternity are fully intentional. A security system kicks in when Nemo tries to leave with his loot, imprisoning him. The rest of the film, which seems to transpire over weeks, if not months, consists of the protagonist trying to survive or get out. He screams to attract the attention of an oblivious maid in the hallway outside the fortresslike front door.
Making matters worse, Nemo has somehow broken the apartment’s temperature control touch panel, so the climate fluctuates between 106 and 43 degrees. When Nemo holds open the door of the “smart” refrigerator for more than 20 seconds to cool down, it automatically plays “Macarena.”
Is that really such an intriguing question?