Down to Zero

Terry Gilliam’s career has been marked by films that are both difficult and brilliant. His best work offers glimpses of strange worlds that seem fantastical but upon further inspection are simply twisted reflections of reality. His latest, The Zero Theorem, about a computer programmer searching for the meaning of life...

By Cory Casciato

September 18, 2014

Audio By Carbonatix

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Terry Gilliam’s career has been marked by films that are both difficult and brilliant. His best work offers glimpses of strange worlds that seem fantastical but upon further inspection are simply twisted reflections of reality. His latest, The Zero Theorem, about a computer programmer searching for the meaning of life who’s beset by distractions from Management, is no different.

“The Zero Theorem has some really interesting things to say about where we might be headed,” says Pablo Kjolseth, executive director of the International Film Series at the University of Colorado at Boulder. “It’s definitely not a rosy picture. He wraps things up with a certain packaging that makes you think, ‘Oh, this is the future,’ but I think he’s really talking about what is going on now.”

Fans of Gilliam’s previous takes on dystopian science fiction, particularly Brazil, will find plenty to love about Zero Theorem, according to Kjolseth. “This is the film that most closely approximates [Brazil] in terms of what he’s trying to do, in creating this alternate-universe dystopian vision of where we’re headed,” he says.

See the film tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Muenzinger Auditorium on the CU-Boulder campus. Tickets are $8, or $7 for seniors and CU-Boulder students. For tickets and more information, visit internationalfilmseries.com.
Fri., Sept. 19, 7:30 p.m., 2014

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