Zenith (2010) User Reviews

Fantastic

[knockemdeadkidd23 · 7/10 · 15 March 2013]

Before I even get into the review of this movie I want to point out one crucial thing, this is NOT just a movie, this is what several people on the inter-webs calls an "alternate reality game" ultimately involving people who watch the film, listen to the album or read the book. Great example is Nine Inch Nails album "Year Zero".

Now let us get into the meat of this beefy film, a few reviews below me had to have been done by someone who is involved with Fred Phelps,maybe they decided to watch it with family, and then there is the possibility this person hasn't seen an indie movie in his entire life.

This movie follows very close with the styles of Fight Club, with the narration, and such events that I will not disclose for your sake.

This movie/mockumentary will start out kind of confusing but it wants you to hang in there because not only are the following hour and twenty minutes worth it, but are crucial for you to get ANY grasp on this film. Without partaking in the ARG. The camera styles used are just as you would expect on a low budget film, but it doesn't ruin or take away from the film at all.

The acting is far from sub-par, but very well for relatively unknown actors and actresses, with slips here and there but its easily over looked. Sets looked as though this dystopian 2044 would be possible.

But the end, I didn't quite get it, its not as out there cause they're really is no end at the end of the movie, it is open for YOU the viewer to help Jack out, find out the true end of everything.

But to say that they used the "F bomb" too much is BS, I have seen holly wood movies use it more, it sillier ways than this movie did, and to say that the "love" scenes were anything less than a standard holly wood "sex" scene is ludicrous, maybe if it was Channing Tatum and Katy Perry it wouldn't be as bad, or maybe if they played some John Mayer while it was going on, its crazy to say it was over used over played, it set the movie with a different feel.

And yes there may or may not be a "rape" scene, but you decide, and tell me what you think. Also note they're MAY be an abortion scene... MAYBE you can help me out with that, maybe you have the 4:3 version that I could borrow to see more.

Just trying to state the obvious, this movie is at its best a mind bending twist of crazy, and at its worst... a mind bending twist of crazy, its no Serbian Film...

there is very little that hinder this movie from being a top movie in 2010, or even being viewed once by all who have netflix.

If you don't watch this you are missing out.

Blah. But much worse.

[voyou-703-655350 · 1/10 · 21 November 2013]

Yet another case of misleading reviews. You are teased with terms like brain candy... well, like a candy, it certainly doesn't feed. Alas it doesn't even taste good. The container is as bad as the content.

Content first: Constant pontification on subjects that you will find provoking only if you were born after 2012. When the first sentence begins with "Fact:...", you instantly realise that you'll be listening to a condescending moron who thinks he will teach you something. I'm not referring to the character. Then he badly explains the Milgram Experiment, a ground-breaker, in the 1960s, and you start to think that maybe you should re-watch Verneuil's I as in Icarus, a great movie that one.

Don't go thinking that I'm bashing on the sole basis of the introduction. All along, you'll get hammered coprolitic gems like "who are you to judge if you haven't produced anything ?" (let's ask Cioran about that), "I know words no one else knows anymore" (well, we all know people who can speak 6 languages fluently but have nothing interesting to say), a USA-Great Britain one-world government (and Australia once again forgotten in that definition of global), "Pain makes them feel alive", etc. Nobody in the film crew has even realised, or dared to mention, how dumb the idea of paying for a pain-inducing drug is.

Zenith exemplifies a contemporary trend in which any brain fart can find an echo on the Internet and be proclaimed as an idea.

Container: To try to keep watching Zenith despite its early ineptitude is a true ordeal. First, the acting is atrocious. Not raw... bad. Absolutely all of it. Unbelievably incompetent. Strangely, all the actors are physically perfect for their respective parts, but none of them has any mike skill. Put the narrator on top of it for new levels of annoyance.

The camera work is of the same calibre. In every single scene, the camera is set at the worst possible place, or on a shoulder, or is a cctv sensor... It hopelessly tries to be arty, with zero flair. The lighting is equally awful, and so on. A sex scene is ugly, which is an unforgivable crime, repeated twice more. Scenes of violence are over before you realise they started; they have no impact; they are unclear, like everything else.

Using the word Independent as an excuse for incompetence is irritating. It is, in fact, an insult to independent cinema. There are masterpieces with the tiniest budgets out there. Watch Man Bites Dog, made by three students with no money (not even a university grant) using all their family members for a free cast. Brilliant. Because they have talent, unlike Mr Nikotic. Wait, I take that back: I don't need a masterpiece as an example; just watch a good independent movie, or an okay one, but don't bother watching the abysmal Zenith.

Writer/Director's bad, ham-fisted "Reveal"

[redskies-32191 · 3/10 · 28 August 2020]

So, a man references "Zenith", saying something mysterious to a priest that leads him to investigate a conspiracy. In a pointless reveal near the end, the "revealed" villain repeats those same words that were said earlier (we even get a flashback of the earlier scene with the priest). This does not make for a revelation - we can say, "Yeah, that guy said that earlier, too", but who cares - it doesn't tell us anything, even after 90 minutes of narrators and characters directly telling us stuff. Then, he's really the guy confirming his own conspiracy theory through some kind of mind game, or - Oooooooo - did he really go to the future???...I didn't seem to care.

Almost perfect brain candy

[s-t-capistrant · 8/10 · 29 October 2011]

An exciting stand-up triple that falls frustrating short of a home run. Wonderfully original and thought-provoking story covering the dystopian topics of power structures without rule-of-law, genetic manipulation on a mass scale, mind chemical crutches, and the erosion of scholasticism. Acting, sets, and cinematography all done well, which is impressive given the film's 12 dollar and 50 cents budget. Unfortunately, many story elements get tossed in without backdrop or development (how did everyone get genetically altered as soon as 2044, especially in a world lacking the organizational framework of governments?). It feels like the too-condensed movie version of a epic-length cerebral sci-fi book series, like Herbert's Dune or Card's Ender, but sadly, no such luck. Nevertheless, Zenith is brain candy worth chewing on over and over.

Weak Storyline, Shocking to Shock

[aircooledkafer · 21 November 2011]

I can't emphasize this enough: I regret watching this movie. We've all wasted time on worthless movies, but I honestly wish I could "unsee" Zenith. It's unnecessarily vulgar and completely worthless. Zenith is well done in the way that a birthday cake made of rocks and muffin mix can be well done. The cinematography is okay but nothing special. Acting was okay, bordering on bad. The Story is completely weak. It's not profound, and this isn't because I didn't "Get it". I know exactly what the movie is trying to do, but it just wasn't good. The concept it tries to deliver is actually really basic. It's nothing new. And they didn't even deliver it well. The movies description is accurate. People looking for pain because they want to feel ANYTHING other than happiness. I think this movie is something like a demonstration of such yearnings. The content is weak and useless, but it does deliver plenty of "Shocking" things... for the sake of being shocking. There are SEVERAL graphic dirty sex scenes that just make you feel uneasy and dirty. There's even a vulgar sex/rape scene between a Father and his Daughter. The kinds of things that burn into your mind and you can't "unsee" them. I'm not picky about the "F bomb". I really don't mind it as long as it's not used in a vulgar sexual way. In Zenith, they used it quite a bit like that. The movie has plenty of violence, but nothing worse than many movies you may have already seen. They push the envelope pretty badly when it comes to the sex, but not all that much with the violence. Plenty of brutal beatings, gunshots etc. A mild scene of a forced abortion. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of violence, but I've seen much worse.

I continued watching this because I hoped that it had a worthwhile story. I trudged through the awful sex and porn crossing my fingers that it wouldn't have any more and the story would get better. Just more unsettling sex and a weak story.

I would say don't bother, but it's worse than that. Don't watch this, you may regret it. But seriously. Don't watch it out of curiosity now. You should be curious about it like you should be curious about what it feels like to lick a hot stove.

Zenith

[Prismark10 · 3/10 · 12 February 2022]

Zenith is a low budget trite paranoid conspiracy thriller.

Set in a 2044 Dystopian society where people are genetically engineered to be happy. Dumb Jack (Peter Scanavino) is the son of a priest and prostitute.

He is a former doctor who deals in drugs that make people feel pain. He is hunting for lost videotapes to prove his father theories about a secret society that rules the world.

A conspiracy that might give an answer to the state of the current world Jack is in.

He is accompanied by mute loyal friend Nimble and later has an affair with an exotic dancer called Lisa.

The movie is a mixed bag peddling all sorts of conspiracy theories. It is seedy, grimy at times. There is violence, a few twists and a constant dreary narration. Scanavino does what he can with the material.

There are better films out there that can do this type of conspiracy thrillers.

Sure footed cult movie to be is very engrossing and very well directed,..although what's the deal with that ending???

[mbs · 8/10 · 27 October 2010]

Zenith has a great set-up, once everything has more or less been laid out to the viewer as to what's happening. Its a plot line that calls to mind (and is kind of a blend of) 12 Monkeys, Donnie Darko (which this movie clearly yearns to be) and The Stepford Wives (of all things)but mixes and matches the 3 in such a way that it really feels likes it stands as its own film--which is quite impressive when you think about it.

Movie works best quite honestly when you know as little about it as you can going in--but since you're here on the IMDb--you're gonna figure out the plot eventually anyways so i'll tell you very briefly what its about without giving away any spoilers---In the future (2044) there's an ex med student dealing black market drugs (depressents mostly) in a bleak world where well the things that are bad in today's bad economy/ society get extremely worse. The drug dealer (who narrates the film in 3rd person) eventually finds out his dad was on a never ending quest to stop the current world's conditions from getting worse (which it of course did) and this quest ended up driving him crazy--a fate that the narrator is trying to avoid himself (its not really important what the quest is so much as that it getting done...but its something concerning the mysterious project zenith.) The narrator finds scattered videotapes that his dad left for him to ferret out what can be done to well save the world more or less from these nefarious people who would stand to profit from the bleak way the world currently is...and off we go.

This is a very clever way of having the plot being set in 2 different time lines while running concurrently--- both in the narrator's time (which is the future) and in the dad's time (which is in our current present) where you see the narrator's dad in the videotapes trying to do his thing--the film essentially cuts back and fourth between the narrator in the movie's present and the videotapes of the dad's adventures in the movie's past which is of course actually our present--OH movies--i love you sometimes!) Anyways that gives you an outline of what the film's content is without actually telling you anything about what specifically is happening-- how its happening, or whether or not it all adds up to anything or not. (hint--film tries to have it both ways in its ending...which may prove to be a little too cute for its own good--but by this point i was so wrapped up in the film's narrative that it didn't really matter until i thought about it after-wards.) Film is very very confident in its ability to grab and hold your attention--and it very, very much succeeds on that basic level. Film is extremely watchable-and is very well shot (and edited) to boot. The 2 lead performances are completely perfect. You definitely buy the 2 lead characters as presented. Even if the constant third person narration reminded me a little of Fight Club (another influence?)it was still very helpful in keeping track of what was going on, and which timberline we were currently in.

The only real flaws in the film come after-wards in retrospect while thinking about it--which is of course where the fun in dissecting it comes into play (and will no doubt cloud many viewer's opinions of it overall) But it doesn't really matter because you will be engrossed while watching it--you can debate later on whether or not film adds up to anything--but you'll definitely pay attention to it while its unfolding and that sheer watchable factor cannot be underrated enough.

Still relevant

[spirogira-68355 · 8/10 · 25 March 2019]

I just re-watched this film. Now almost a decade old, Zenith became a cult underground thing for people in the know back then and subsequently inspired more mainstream films and series that followed its themes, most obviously Mr.Robot. While these projects took some of the ideas and the look and style of Zenith, they toned them down and made them "safe" for mass consumption. Zenith was way ahead of its time and still is. While conspiracy memes and the one percent narrative have become common place by now, the film still leaves you with a lot to process and think about.

Brilliant

[chelmhoz · 9/10 · 1 November 2010]

If you have read about it, forget the online meta-something story lines which accompany the film, the conspiracy and warning signs, and go see this film with a fresh mind - but don't blink! It is so dense with information and visuals that if you go for popcorn you will have a hard time to connect all the dots. It asks the audience to be alert and to participate in the movie, but it's worth it. Zenith obviously references/ is influenced by a lot of cult films, from Memento to Donnie Darko, with nods to La Jetee and Fight Club among others, but it is thoroughly original and unique.

The film is not really about conspiracies, it is about power and lack of it, and how we relate to it, and by extension, what choices we make. The director has repeated the concept of the experiment - beginning the film with the Milgram experiment, which is not a conspiracy but a test of obedience to authority (SPOLER ALERT) repeating the experiment in the middle of the film, referencing the experiment twice by a doctor toward the end of the film, and even the director is credited as "experiment supervisor." Peeling layer after layer of intense visuals and narrative threads, the film becomes an allegory on what it means to be human. Jack, or "dumb Jack as they call him" recites into the camera about consciousness and the states of the mind (and mind you, he is an epileptic).

Power corrupts, weather it is political, or the power that a parent can wield, and it is when the political becomes personal that we have to make a choice, as simulated in Milgram's experiment and as shown in Zenith. Jack doesn't give up, although he is doomed to lose. I don't think that I have ever seen a film like this, and couldn't stop thinking about it afterward. If your idea of a 'good movie' is based on Hollywood or even Indy films of the last decade, you will probably walk away unimpressed. But, as one of my favorite characters in Zenith rants into the camera, judging things without contributing or making something yourself can be self-defeating. Productionwise, the acting is superb, the look and camera-work amazing, the directing masterful, and the amount of complex philosophical questions squeezed into a 90 minute joyride (with sex and violence and suspense) makes Zenith a unique brilliant film.

Tape eleven

[diamond-68826 · 10/10 · 30 June 2019]

Major Spoilers ahead, so don't read if you haven't watched the film.

First off, Zenith is not only a film, it's an experience, an experiment in storytelling through a movie and a variety of story extensions and background stories and histories from the real world. The many websites associated with the project don't exist anymore but you can still find traces online, and the film can also stand on its own. So, what is the film actually about? A lot of people, including most critics, have written about its themes, referencing Sci-Fi Dystopia. That is certainly true. To fully understand Zenith's ideas, you should at least have read Orwell, Huxley, Ballard and Gibson, and Moebius' graphic novels. The perversion of language ("what you can't express in language doesn't exist in human minds"), the illusion of "happiness" through numbness induced by pharma, mass entertainment and social media distractions are all systems of control of the individual by those in power. In our times, it's global and all-pervasive. To search for the "truth" and the people behind the curtain is dangerous, and those who still remember "the words that have been forgotten" better play dumb, like Jack. The premise is actually plain to see - the experiment opens the film and is repeated. The experiment is about obedience to authority. But it's also about deception and our willingness to abandon free will and personal responsibility. If we agree to believe the deception, we agree to play the game, blindly turning up the levers when the experiment supervisors tell us to do so. Even if we discover the deception, we can choose not to do anything about it (Jack's father). But if we do something, it will have consequences (Jack).

To read the ending as "Oh, he's just sick" is leaving us with the option to walk away, assured that this is not the reality we live in, it's just Jack's problem. It's not society that's sick, it's Jack. But he is not sick, he is being brainwashed. The TV ad in the hospital is clear, as is the conversation with the "doctor," and the moment when Lisa gets wheeled by, her head shaved, with no expression on her face, numb. The experiment is complete, and we, the viewers are also participants. How far do we push the levers? What do we believe? What is real, and what is a manufactured reality that we can buy into to feel better about ourselves? There are even more layers in the film of course - references to social roles of men and women ("The whore and the mother"), the quest of the powerful to live forever and ensure their dominance (Berger), and even esoteric ones (Ed Crowley/Aleister Crowley). Like in any good conspiracy theory, dead ends and wrong leads are also there to avoid oversimplification. Zenith is billed as a "futuristic" film but it's obviously about our present reality, amplified to extremes. "The future will be grim and hopeless" after the Zenith is passed, it is said, but also "the future is up to you," as Jack writes in the end. Maybe the future hasn't been written after all, if we find tape eleven.

Recommendation

[maxmorimotu · 8/10 · 7 September 2020]

I have been so fascinated by this film that I have taken the time to register on imdb only in order to recommend it. I wouldn't go so far to call this a "review."

I'm a middle-aged professor and a fan of surrealism, who discovered Zenith upon the recommendation of one of my students, who wrote a paper on it, when we were discussing conspiracy theories -fact, fiction, deliberate manipulation and interpretation- in relation to psychology, as well as culture and society at large.

I truly enjoyed this film. I had to watch it twice to pick up on all its references and themes, since there are so many here, from the obvious, like the MIlgram experiment, over the lesser known, like Aleister Crowley or Edward Bernays, to some obscure surrealist literary and cinematic quotes, which I won't reveal, as they would spoil some of the fun of discovering this film for yourself. Zenith is like an onion, where each layer that peels off will reveal something new. It deconstructs language, the genre, even the process of filmmaking, with the fast-forward/rewinds, cut-tos, etc. It's playful and irreverent, mixing the fake and the real, the truth with lies, and the comic with the tragic.

You, the viewer, have to interpret the full meaning of the narrative. This intent is obvious, and not only because of the ending. It's difficult to go more in depth here without revealing too much. The storytelling method is surrealist -think David Lynch, Bunuel or Jodorowsky. Nothing is what it seems and everything has a double meaning. There is no reassuring closure in the end, no key to find one right answer for everyone, but that's what makes it so interesting.

To me, this is a memorable film, well worth the effort. If you enjoy complex and ambiguous narratives, you will enjoy this multi-layered film. Now, let me watch it a third time and see what I have missed.

A new classic!

[SmileyMcGrouchpantsJrEsqIII · 10/10 · 17 June 2019]

This is the sort of analogies, the new metaphors, the "world has already ended, and we're just catching up with it" William Gibson-esque view of things we need to sort things out. If you haven't heard Nine Inch Nails' "Year Zero" and have never picked up "Adbusters," you might be surprised that people have been directing cultural impulses to address the situation (set(s)) we find ourselves in -- but then, you might be awed by the "complexity" of Marvel and think that vague passing references to overpopulation and toxic overfill qualify as addressing the capitalistic addition we've all been raised in. Forget that.

False mirror

[mynameisnobody2014 · 8/10 · 6 December 2013]

I find it interesting how some reviews are full of rage and others full of praise. A great work usually does that. Love or hate it, it arouses passion. Time will tell but Zenith does push many buttons. Bottom line, if you like films only as entertainment don't watch The film. If you have an open mind and want something different see it. A dark futuristic thriller on no budget, the film occasionally overreaches but it's fascinating, beautiful to look at and the score is amazing. It's a heady movie but not preachy. The film is our allegory. Like Magritte's 'False Mirror' it looks inside out and outside in. If you agree to this premise you will enjoy the ride and contemplate its ending long after. If not, the film will fall flat as 'realistic dramatic construction' in three acts without closure. But I don't think it was meant to be that. We are living the future and with every day Zenith becomes more real. The film was not shot there but the desolate landscapes look eerily like Detroit.

Futuristic Allegory

[hughesmilton-15097 · 8/10 · 15 February 2022]

Zenith is not a science fiction movie. It uses an imagined future to highlight contemporary issues. It is related to films like Godard's Alphaville, and has no relation to Star Trek and similar. As the credit reads, this is an experiment. It uses cinematic and literary tropes to invite the audience into a dialog about human psychology and societal convention, power and control. Before the latest corporate takeover of cinema, that wouldn't have been unusual. Nowadays, many or most viewers are conditioned to evaluate movies only in terms of budgets, spectacle, celebrity names, and how well they execute trite formulaic plots. If you don't belong to that group, this film will speak to you.

Crazy!

[solbastian · 10/10 · 16 July 2020]

Watch this film! If that's the only thing you do, watch this film. You won't forget it. I don't know if you will like it, that depends on your predisposition, but this is a masterpiece! I have never seen a film like it. Watch this film!

A Wild Ride

[nathanolivier-06783 · 10/10 · 22 August 2021]

There is so much to unpack in this film. I saw it a decade ago and followed some of its meta-narratives online when it came out. I saw it again now. It's bewildering to think how much the context is the same but also different from ten years ago - from Anonymous to conspiracy theories to the pharmaceutical references and everything else- reality is truly stranger than fiction. I'll leave it at that, so as not to spoil the fun of discovering this unique film. Zenith is even more timely now than when it was initially released. Lots of comparisons to dystopian films and books have been made, but I would say James Graham Ballard is the most apt one. This film is a wild ride for free souls and open minds. If you take it literally and think that it doesn't make sense that people would take medication to feel pain, or that Jack's inner monologue is not a tongue-in-cheek literary reference, or trust his father to tell you the truth about that famous psychological experiment and consider the ending to be a cop out, you are missing the point. It's like saying why doesn't Godot show up in Waiting for Godot. Duh.

A Masterpiece of Independent Filmmaking

[ClaudioLaniado · 10/10 · 29 December 2010]

I had the opportunity to see ZENITH at the IFC THEATER in NYC.The movie was in summary at least 100 times better than INCEPTION. This is a statement for the quality of this independent film which was much less money to make than INCEPTION. The story was imaginative and associated with current society. The artistry in th...e acting and directing was quite evident. The acting was raw..and the story was up your face, and the directing and cinematography was genius. Each scene seemed like a painting which could be worth thousands in the art world. It was quite interesting to see at a moment breaking the fourth wall. This movie was provocative, thought stimulating, and a roller-coaster of goodies to see : A MASTERPIECE OF INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING ..WHICH I PREDICT WILL BECOME AN INDEPENDENT FILM CULT CLASSIC... Get some sleep before you go see this,... you will need all your brain cells so as to not miss one second of it. Hope to see it in big theaters real soon.

In the eye of the beholder

[todorbom · 8/10 · 29 January 2023]

A risky genre-bender that brings the story's central question back in the end to the viewer to answer, it's a rare film that dares this somersault. What do I mean? Commercial narrative movies mostly plot a storyline that ultimately plays to the expectation to entertain. Rarely does a film slap us in the end to wake up out of the trance of watching a movie and re-think what we've seen. Like the Schrodinger cat experiment, we'll only know the answer if we open the box, but the film only leads us to the box. Sometimes that's a gimmick, but given the subject matter, here it's a clever device to get us to rethink everything and reconsider the crucial question of the story. Of course it will alienate many viewers who will watch it because of the "thriller" and "sci-fi" taglines, since it uses the genre formulas only as disguise. Cinematically, it's well done, playing around with standard movie tropes and conventions and crossing some lines but not going overboard. It's a shame Peter Scanavino settled for Law and Order. Based on this performance he could've done much more. Jason Robards III is eerily reminiscent of his late father and David Thornton is brilliant. Why aren't they more present in mainstream movies? Bottom line, recommended if you're up for a subversive cinematic experiment in form and content.