Nowhere (film)
Encyclopedia
Nowhere is a 1997 film by director
and screenwriter
Gregg Araki
. It stars James Duval
and Rachel True
as Dark and Mel, a bisexual
teen couple who are both sexually promiscuous.
The film is part of a series of three films by Araki nicknamed the "Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy". The other films in that trilogy are, in order, Totally Fucked Up
(1993) and The Doom Generation
(1995), with Nowhere being the third and last. It is highly sexual and contains scenes of graphic violence. The film is notable in that it features a variety of actors who had, at the time, not yet reached their current level of stardom. Among them are Heather Graham, Ryan Phillippe
, Mena Suvari
, Kathleen Robertson
, and Denise Richards
.
Also in keeping with Araki's film making tradition, various celebrities from the past 40 years make unexpected cameos. Included are Shannen Doherty
, Charlotte Rae
, Debi Mazar
, Jordan Ladd
, Christina Applegate
, Jeremy Jordan, Jaason Simmons
, Beverly D'Angelo
, Eve Plumb
, Christopher Knight, Traci Lords
, Rose McGowan
, John Ritter
, Staci Keanan
, Devon Odessa
, Chiara Mastroianni
, the Brewer twins
and Brian Buzzini.
) is an alienated, 18-year-old man struggling with daily life, fluctuating romantic status with his bisexual, polyamorous
girlfriend Mel (Rachel True
) and conflicting feelings for a shy gay classmate, Montgomery (Nathan Bexton). The day starts off normally enough with Dark meeting up with his friends which include the intelligent Dingbat (Christina Applegate
), Montgomery, Mel and her purple-haired, acid-tongued lesbian lover Lucifer (Kathleen Robertson
) for breakfast at their local coffeehouse hangout, The Hole. Various mentions of a party at Jujyfruit's along with plans for a drug-fueled game of kick the can are made and the film segues into portions of the goings-on of the lives of the other characters in the film.
As all of these plot lines develop, the story progresses towards the oft-mentioned party at Jujyfruit's house. A bacchanalia
n orgy of excess, drinking, drugs, and friends, strangers, nobodies and somebodies, all pushed together and put under pressure. Here the film descends from the innocuous and normal beginning with natural lighting and balanced visuals to very sureal, sharply contrasted and/or colored lighting, and seemingly hallucinatory visions and surrealistic visuals and events as well as chaotic and/or subjectively improbable happenings and reaches its chaotic and penultimate finale where some of the issues in the plot come to a head. Dark and Mel argue about her desire to have an open relationship
and Dark's desire for commitment. Zero and Zoe are ambushed by the Atari Gang on their way to Jujyfruit's house and their car, belonging to Zero's mother, is stolen while they are left helpless on the side of the road. Egg and Bart, separately watching the same televangelist (John Ritter
), both decide the world is too messed up to live in and they commit suicide
to reach heaven
. Ducky receives word of his sister's death and attempts to drown himself in a swimming pool, but is saved by Dark and Dingbat. Bart's drug dealer Handjob is beaten to death by Elvis for selling them cut drugs, and Dark, covered in blood from his proximity to it, returns home, where Montgomery, escaped from the aliens that had abducted him during the game of kick the can, comes to Dark's window and asks if he can come in. The pair discuss their mutual attraction for one another and Montgomery asks Dark if he can spend the night. Dark agrees but makes Montgomery promise he'll never leave him. They are seen in a momentary loving embrace before Montgomery begins uncontrollably coughing. As Dark shakes him to try to get him to stop, Montgomery explodes in a shower of flesh and blood and a cockroach-like alien who had apparently been using him as a host, turns to Dark and says, "I'm outta here," before crawling out the window, leaving Dark covered in blood and staring at the camera while the credits begin to roll.
, was released on Mercury Records
.
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
Gregg Araki
Gregg Araki
Gregg Araki is an American independent filmmaker. He is involved in New Queer Cinema.-Early life:Araki was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Santa Barbara, California...
. It stars James Duval
James Duval
James Edward Duval is an American actor, who is most famous for his roles in the Gregg Araki trilogy—Totally Fucked Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere—in addition to Frank in Donnie Darko, Blank in May, Miguel in Independence Day and Singh in Go.-Personal life:Duval was born in Detroit, Michigan...
and Rachel True
Rachel True
Rachel India True is an American film and television actress.-Career:In 1991, True had some appearances , beginning a string of TV jobs, including turns on Beverly Hills, 90210, The Drew Carey Show, Once and Again, and HBO's Dream On. By 1993, she had moved to Los Angeles and appeared opposite...
as Dark and Mel, a bisexual
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
teen couple who are both sexually promiscuous.
The film is part of a series of three films by Araki nicknamed the "Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy". The other films in that trilogy are, in order, Totally Fucked Up
Totally Fucked Up
Totally Fucked Up is a 1993 American drama film written and directed by Gregg Araki...
(1993) and The Doom Generation
The Doom Generation
The Doom Generation is a film by director Gregg Araki. Released in 1995, it stars Rose McGowan, James Duval and Johnathon Schaech as two teenagers and a 21-year-old punk drifter who become involved in a ménage à trois. It is the second of a trilogy of films known as the Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy,...
(1995), with Nowhere being the third and last. It is highly sexual and contains scenes of graphic violence. The film is notable in that it features a variety of actors who had, at the time, not yet reached their current level of stardom. Among them are Heather Graham, Ryan Phillippe
Ryan Phillippe
Matthew Ryan Phillippe , better known as Ryan Phillippe, is an American actor. After appearing on the soap opera One Life to Live, he came to fame in the late 1990s starring in a string of films, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions, and 54...
, Mena Suvari
Mena Suvari
Mena Alexandra Suvari is an American actress, fashion designer, and model. Shortly after beginning her career as a model, she appeared in guest roles on 1990's television shows such as Boy Meets World and High Incident...
, Kathleen Robertson
Kathleen Robertson
Kathleen Robertson is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Clare Arnold in Beverly Hills, 90210 .-Career:Robertson started taking acting classes when she was ten, and had roles in local theater productions...
, and Denise Richards
Denise Richards
Denise Lee Richards is an American actress and former fashion model of Croatian and Welsh descent. She has appeared in films including Starship Troopers, Wild Things, and The World Is Not Enough...
.
Also in keeping with Araki's film making tradition, various celebrities from the past 40 years make unexpected cameos. Included are Shannen Doherty
Shannen Doherty
Shannen Maria Doherty is an American actress, producer, author and television director, known for her work as Heather Duke in Heathers , as Brenda Walsh in Beverly Hills, 90210 and its spinoff series 90210, and as Prue Halliwell in Charmed .-Early life and career:Doherty was born in Memphis,...
, Charlotte Rae
Charlotte Rae
Charlotte Rae is a prolific American character actress of stage, comedienne, singer and dancer, who in her six decades of television is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Edna Garrett in the sitcoms Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life...
, Debi Mazar
Debi Mazar
Deborah "Debi" Mazar is an American actress, perhaps best known for her Jersey Girl-type roles; as sharp-tongued women in independent films; and for her recurring role as press agent Shauna Roberts on the HBO series Entourage.-Early life:...
, Jordan Ladd
Jordan Ladd
Jordan Elizabeth Ladd is an American actress. She began taking small film roles before landing her first high-profile role in Never Been Kissed . Since then, Ladd has portrayed supporting as well as lead roles in films, including Cabin Fever , Club Dread , and Death Proof...
, Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate is an American actress. She is best known for playing Kelly Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married... with Children. Since then, she has established a film and television career, winning a Primetime Emmy and earning Tony and Golden Globe nominations...
, Jeremy Jordan, Jaason Simmons
Jaason Simmons
Jaason Simmons is an Australian actor best known for the role of Logan Fowler on the TV series Baywatch.-Early life and career:...
, Beverly D'Angelo
Beverly D'Angelo
Beverly Heather D'Angelo is an American actress and singer.-Early life:D'Angelo was born in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Priscilla , a violinist, and Gene D'Angelo, a bass player and television station manager. She is of part Italian ancestry...
, Eve Plumb
Eve Plumb
Eve Aline Plumb is an American actress and painter. She is best known for her portrayal of Jan Brady in the iconic television sitcom The Brady Bunch.-Early career:...
, Christopher Knight, Traci Lords
Traci Lords
Traci Lords , also known as Traci Elizabeth Lords and Tracy Lords, is an American film actress, producer, film director, writer and singer...
, Rose McGowan
Rose McGowan
Rose Arianna McGowan is an actress and singer. She is known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB Television Network supernatural drama series Charmed. She played Ann-Margret alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley in the CBS mini-series Elvis...
, John Ritter
John Ritter
Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter was an American actor, voice over artist and comedian perhaps best known for having played Jack Tripper and Paul Hennessy in the ABC sitcoms Three's Company and 8 Simple Rules, respectively...
, Staci Keanan
Staci Keanan
Staci Keanan is an American actress. Keanan is best known for her roles in the television series My Two Dads and Step by Step .-Life and career:...
, Devon Odessa
Devon Odessa
Devon Odessa is an American actress and film producer most famous for her role as Sharon Cherski on My So-Called Life....
, Chiara Mastroianni
Chiara Mastroianni
Chiara Charlotte Mastroianni is a French actress and singer.-Biography:Mastroianni was born in Paris, the daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni. Her elder half-brother is Christian Vadim; her elder half-sister is Barbara Mastroianni.She had relationships with the actors Benicio...
, the Brewer twins
Brewer twins
Derek and Keith Brewer, known as the Brewer Twins, are male models.-Biography:The twins were born on September 21, 1973, at Torrance Memorial Hospital in Torrance, California. Derek was born fifteen minutes before Keith...
and Brian Buzzini.
Plot
Dark Smith (James DuvalJames Duval
James Edward Duval is an American actor, who is most famous for his roles in the Gregg Araki trilogy—Totally Fucked Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere—in addition to Frank in Donnie Darko, Blank in May, Miguel in Independence Day and Singh in Go.-Personal life:Duval was born in Detroit, Michigan...
) is an alienated, 18-year-old man struggling with daily life, fluctuating romantic status with his bisexual, polyamorous
Polyamory
Polyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved....
girlfriend Mel (Rachel True
Rachel True
Rachel India True is an American film and television actress.-Career:In 1991, True had some appearances , beginning a string of TV jobs, including turns on Beverly Hills, 90210, The Drew Carey Show, Once and Again, and HBO's Dream On. By 1993, she had moved to Los Angeles and appeared opposite...
) and conflicting feelings for a shy gay classmate, Montgomery (Nathan Bexton). The day starts off normally enough with Dark meeting up with his friends which include the intelligent Dingbat (Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate is an American actress. She is best known for playing Kelly Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married... with Children. Since then, she has established a film and television career, winning a Primetime Emmy and earning Tony and Golden Globe nominations...
), Montgomery, Mel and her purple-haired, acid-tongued lesbian lover Lucifer (Kathleen Robertson
Kathleen Robertson
Kathleen Robertson is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Clare Arnold in Beverly Hills, 90210 .-Career:Robertson started taking acting classes when she was ten, and had roles in local theater productions...
) for breakfast at their local coffeehouse hangout, The Hole. Various mentions of a party at Jujyfruit's along with plans for a drug-fueled game of kick the can are made and the film segues into portions of the goings-on of the lives of the other characters in the film.
- Cowboy (Guillermo Díaz) is another one of Dark's best friends; he is a gayGayGay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
rock musician struggling with balancing his band duties and his bandmate/boyfriend Bart (Jeremy Jordan), who is heavily addicted to drugs supplied by Handjob. - Egg (Sarah LassezSarah LassezSarah Lassez is a French-American-Canadian actress and author. She was born in Canada to French parents and raised in Australia. At the age of 14, she moved to New York City and currently lives in Los Angeles....
) is a young girl who becomes starstruck, resulting in an inadvertent meeting with a heartthrob television star (Jaason SimmonsJaason SimmonsJaason Simmons is an Australian actor best known for the role of Logan Fowler on the TV series Baywatch.-Early life and career:...
) who winds up being more than she had planned for. - Shad (Ryan PhillippeRyan PhillippeMatthew Ryan Phillippe , better known as Ryan Phillippe, is an American actor. After appearing on the soap opera One Life to Live, he came to fame in the late 1990s starring in a string of films, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions, and 54...
) and Lilith (Heather Graham) are a nihilisticNihilismNihilism is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value...
couple, crazed with sex and lust for life, and their segments are little more than clips that serve to illustrate this. Shad is Alyssa's twin brother. - Alyssa (Jordan LaddJordan LaddJordan Elizabeth Ladd is an American actress. She began taking small film roles before landing her first high-profile role in Never Been Kissed . Since then, Ladd has portrayed supporting as well as lead roles in films, including Cabin Fever , Club Dread , and Death Proof...
) and Elvis are another couple touched on only briefly. In contrast to her brother's rather indicatively violent nature Alyssa is more demure, coquettish, and sweet. Her boyfriend Elvis (Thyme Lewis), a biker, is apparently flaky in his romantic commitment to Alyssa. Elvis has a sadomasochistic streak and as is exhibited towards the end of the film, capable of extreme violence. - Zero (Joshua Gibran Mayweather), Mel's younger brother, and Zoe (played by Mena SuvariMena SuvariMena Alexandra Suvari is an American actress, fashion designer, and model. Shortly after beginning her career as a model, she appeared in guest roles on 1990's television shows such as Boy Meets World and High Incident...
in her first film role) are high schoolers, implied through dialogue to be sexually active though underage. Zero wants to impress Zoe by taking her to Jujyfruit's party but has some difficulty, in addition to further difficulties that arise in regard to arriving at the party. - Cowboy's boyfriend Bart's interaction with his drug dealer Handjob and his two S&M mistresses, Kriss (Chiara MastroianniChiara MastroianniChiara Charlotte Mastroianni is a French actress and singer.-Biography:Mastroianni was born in Paris, the daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni. Her elder half-brother is Christian Vadim; her elder half-sister is Barbara Mastroianni.She had relationships with the actors Benicio...
) & Kozy, who mutilate Bart despite his extreme state of drug intoxication. - Dingbat's airheaded social butterfly role coupled with her crush on Ducky (Scott CaanScott CaanScott Andrew Caan is an American actor. He stars in the CBS television series Hawaii Five-0, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe award. He is the son of actor James Caan.-Early life:...
) makes her a major supporting character and keeps her involved throughout the story. She's friends with Ducky's sister Egg and she, along with Egg and Alyssa, have eating disorderEating disorderEating disorders refer to a group of conditions defined by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the detriment of an individual's physical and mental health. Bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are the most common specific...
s (binging and purging, anorexiaAnorexia nervosaAnorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
, and drug-induced appetite suppression).
As all of these plot lines develop, the story progresses towards the oft-mentioned party at Jujyfruit's house. A bacchanalia
Bacchanalia
The bacchanalia were wild and mystic festivals of the Greco-Roman god Bacchus , the wine god. The term has since come to describe any form of drunken revelry.-History:...
n orgy of excess, drinking, drugs, and friends, strangers, nobodies and somebodies, all pushed together and put under pressure. Here the film descends from the innocuous and normal beginning with natural lighting and balanced visuals to very sureal, sharply contrasted and/or colored lighting, and seemingly hallucinatory visions and surrealistic visuals and events as well as chaotic and/or subjectively improbable happenings and reaches its chaotic and penultimate finale where some of the issues in the plot come to a head. Dark and Mel argue about her desire to have an open relationship
Open relationship
An open relationship is an interpersonal relationship in which the parties want to be together but agree to a form of a non-monogamous relationship. This means that they agree that a romantic or sexual relationship with another person is accepted, permitted, or tolerated...
and Dark's desire for commitment. Zero and Zoe are ambushed by the Atari Gang on their way to Jujyfruit's house and their car, belonging to Zero's mother, is stolen while they are left helpless on the side of the road. Egg and Bart, separately watching the same televangelist (John Ritter
John Ritter
Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter was an American actor, voice over artist and comedian perhaps best known for having played Jack Tripper and Paul Hennessy in the ABC sitcoms Three's Company and 8 Simple Rules, respectively...
), both decide the world is too messed up to live in and they commit suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
to reach heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
. Ducky receives word of his sister's death and attempts to drown himself in a swimming pool, but is saved by Dark and Dingbat. Bart's drug dealer Handjob is beaten to death by Elvis for selling them cut drugs, and Dark, covered in blood from his proximity to it, returns home, where Montgomery, escaped from the aliens that had abducted him during the game of kick the can, comes to Dark's window and asks if he can come in. The pair discuss their mutual attraction for one another and Montgomery asks Dark if he can spend the night. Dark agrees but makes Montgomery promise he'll never leave him. They are seen in a momentary loving embrace before Montgomery begins uncontrollably coughing. As Dark shakes him to try to get him to stop, Montgomery explodes in a shower of flesh and blood and a cockroach-like alien who had apparently been using him as a host, turns to Dark and says, "I'm outta here," before crawling out the window, leaving Dark covered in blood and staring at the camera while the credits begin to roll.
Availability
- USA: Available in VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
format. There has never been a Region 1 DVD available. - UK: a Region 2 DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
exists; it has no special features. - France: Region 2 DVD, with either FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
audio or original audio with French subtitles (depending on the DVD player, it can be difficult to turn the subtitles off). It has no special features except for a French trailer. - AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
: Region 4 DVD.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack of the film, Nowhere: Music from the Gregg Araki MovieNowhere: Music from the Gregg Araki Movie
Nowhere: Music from the Gregg Akari Movie is the soundtrack album to the film Nowhere, released in 1997.-Track listing:# James Duval – 'Intro'# 311 – 'Freak Out'# Radiohead – 'How Can You Be Sure'# Elastica – 'In the City'# Hole – 'Dicknail'...
, was released on Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
.