Zeroville (2019)

Starring: James Franco, Megan Fox, Will Ferrell, Seth Rogen, Craig Robinson, Jacki Weaver, Dave Franco, Joey King, Danny McBride, Mike Starr, Horatio Sanz, Gus Van Sant, and Tim Blake Nelson
Grade: D+

If you really want to see a film about Los Angeles in 1969, just watch Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It’s a lot better, a lot funnier, and it makes more sense.

Summary

We open to see the bald-headed Vikar (Franco) speaking to a a Hollywood executive named Mitch Rondell (Ferrell) about a potential job offer.

After this, we move backwards to when Vikar first shaves his head and gets a tattoo of a still of Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor in the film A Place in the Sun. It’s Los Angeles in 1969. Immediately upon arriving in LA, Vikar is arrested and accused of being involved in the Charles Manson murders by two cops (Mike Starr and Danny McBride). After he gets out of there, he starts his job in Hollywood as a set designer/builder. At work one day, he observes the making of Love Story and sees Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal working together, as well as MacGraw being yelled at by the crew for screwing up her lines. Vikar is joined by editor Dotty Langer (Weaver), and she makes fun of the process they’re watching. At the same time, she befriends the awkward Vikar. They are both joined by John Milius, referred to as “Viking Man” (Rogen). He’s working with John Huston on a western. He’s loud, abrasive, and kind of crazy. He also befriends Vikar and talks shit to the cast and crew of Love Story.

The next day, Vikar goes with Viking Man to a Hollywood house party on a beach. On the way there, Vikar explains how he got a tattoo of the scene from A Place in the Sun because it’s the first movie he ever saw, which was eleven months ago. He was in the seminary for most of his life and left it after a dream he had. They go to the party, and Viking Man introduces Vikar to some up-and-coming directors with some wild ideas (Lucas, Spielberg, etc.). It gets crazy though because Viking Man pulls out his gun at one point and causes a stir.

Once everything cools down, Vikar notices the beautiful Soledad Paladin (Fox). Viking Man explains she’s an actress that is legitimately crazy. Vikar downs some liquor and goes to talk to her. He approaches her and her daughter and after an awkward conversation, where he implies Soledad is Elizabeth Taylor reincarnated, he passes out from the alcohol. We then cut to see Vikar in a new residence, and it’s broken into by a robber (Robinson). Vikar takes him out and ties him to a chair. When the guy wakes up and Vikar is watching old movies, they bond over their love and interest of classic films. This results in Vikar letting the guy go. The guy is happy but decides to stay and watch a movie as Vikar goes to sleep. One night, Vikar visits Dotty, and they discuss editing and issues with A Place in the Sun. They also discuss the importance of artistic choices, as Dotty explains that sometimes it’s okay to say, “Fuck continuity”. Vikar asks Dotty to teach him how to edit and she agrees to.

He gets very good.

Later on, as he establishes himself as an editor, he gets a phone call from Viking Man. He’s in the Philippines shooting Apocalypse Now, and they need a good editor to help them get the film done. Before Vikar leaves, he sees Soledad, who he’s apparently dating. She talks about how she’s failing in her career. After they hold hands, Vikar goes to the Philippines. He does a great job on editing the film, but he’s still hung up on Soledad. Because of how good his work has been, he gets a call from Mitch Rondell. Rondell offers him the job of editing a new movie Soledad is in, and he accepts. This starts Vikar’s deeper ventures in Hollywood as his career starts to take off. The problem is that he also has to deal with his on-again, off-again relationship with Soledad, a relationship he never truly gets over.

My Thoughts:

Zeroville is a very odd film. It’s odd in its tone, presentation, and overall style. In some ways, this is a good thing about the movie but in other ways, it makes it too far off to comprehend. It’s almost as if Vikar, the main character, edited this film in the way that pissed off Rondell halfway through the movie. It’s all over the place, much like an art or experimental film but with a mainstream budget. I’m not saying it’s that far over-the-top, but the similarities are definitely there. You can tell director and star James Franco wanted to do something wild with Zeroville. There’s a lot of ideas that really work and make everything wildly intriguing and strange enough to where you can’t look away. The editing is very good and eye-catching, especially when certain scenes of old films are spliced in-between Vikar’s thoughts or conversations. I also found the third act fascinating, as our troubled star has visions of Soledad in random film scenes and searches high and low to find her in a certain frame.

It had a lot of potential, but too many things went wrong to make the narrative feel whole.

There’s a bunch of random jumps in time throughout the film and it gets annoying quickly. A simple “Three Years Later” or any kind of caption goes a long way. Unfortunately, everything bleeds together, and we’re left guessing. A lot of the time, they randomly throw us in the middle of the action to the point where you have to just assume whatever you’re thinking is right. Though Vikar’s story is interesting, not nearly enough is explained about him, or his life, for us to really understand him. After we learn he came from a seminary, they don’t really go into why he left. I understand he had his special “dream”, but that’s it? That can’t be the only reason he left his entire life behind him. Clearly, he’s been through a lot, or he’s just crazy. I just want to find out more about him. The problem is that he doesn’t have a lot to say, and it’s pretty frustrating. On top of that, the tone is incredibly inconsistent. It starts off as funny and interesting, then into a confusing art film, and finally, a creatively dark drama. It just goes back and forth, and you don’t really like Vikar enough to care because he’s so standoffish. It’s cool to see stars and sets from films from the late 60s and early 70s being shown to us on screen, but after you get past the initial joke of “Look! They’re making fun of the filming of Apocalypse Now and Marlon Brando is getting yelled at!”, you realize it was only there to set the mood and theme. It really doesn’t do anything for the narrative at all. It’s entertaining for the time being, but what does this do for Vikar?

Nothing.

He barely reacts.

The supporting cast is star-studded, but the right people aren’t in there long enough, especially Seth Rogen. Though he was an early highlight of the film, he didn’t serve much of a purpose other than furthering Vikar’s editing career. I guess that’s okay, but he was billed right at the top, so I thought he was going to be much more important to the overarching story. Will Ferrell’s character was much more important. His Hollywood exec character was also very annoying, something that Ferrell is VERY good at. His character was pretty much exactly how I would imagine a Hollywood exec from that time period to be. Kudos to the accuracy!

If he was trying to be funny though, he failed once again.

Franco tries to convey a lot of emotions and ideas within this narrative, but it’s just a little too complex to understand. Clearly, it makes sense in his head, but the ideas weren’t translated into the final product for the masses. It does work in some instances though. Vikar’s reactions to certain movies are visceral and emotionally charged, very much encapsulating how some can be personally affected by the movies they watch. It shows how an obsession grows and how something so simple can encompass one’s life. This doesn’t have to be attributed to just film either. This can be attributed to fandoms across all entertainment mediums, sports, or even celebrity figures. You never know what will inspire someone because we all live different lives and have a different approach to life. Seeing something that resonates can really stay with you and it can send you on a different path in life, depending on how easy someone can be influenced. We see it all the time in the news, whether it be good or bad. Zeroville shows us this, as we see Vikar tear up while watching old films. He doesn’t say anything, but you can see these images on the screen move him emotionally, and even spiritually. In films like The Holy Mountain, he even sees images that aren’t even there. He loses his mind over it all, but no one can really help him because they don’t have the same passion (or insanity) he possesses. It’s the effect of film and entertainment, and it can be rather beguiling.

There’s also his relationship with Soledad. This toxic partnership happens to him at the same time of his career moving forward and considering his already fragile/unusual state of mind, this does not help matters at all. At heart, he’s a very loving person. He just got tangled up with the wrong person because she’s objectively beautiful. Many people we know have been through this sort of toxicity. Even when it’s “over”, they still think about it again and again, and go back and forth deciding on if they should start things up again. Even when you’re doing some task that may have nothing to do with that other person, you can’t help but think about her. It just randomly hits you and you can’t seem to give it up. I know people that have been there, and it’s rough because you can’t do anything to help them. They have to get over this hump on their own. Vikar never did. The thing is, despite the lack of emotion that Vikar and Soledad seem to have towards each other, there is a deep connection between the two. At least, that’s what Vikar believes. Soledad never really seems to appreciate him like he does her, but he never really sees it. I can’t tell if that was the point or that was just Megan Fox’s inability to show that type of emotion. It seemed like the latter to me. Regardless, Vikar never truly is able to get over this half-relationship, and it leads to a weird demise that is never really explained.

As you can see, some ideas did translate, and I appreciated it. Zeroville has some cool moments and an offbeat narrative style that can be entertaining at times. With that being said, it’s just a little too much. It’s not that funny, it’s still hard to follow/understand, and it’s just strange. There are times where you don’t know what to feel because there’s so much going on with such little explanation. I loved the ending though. It was surprisingly touching for such an odd movie.