‘Nobody is Crazy’ (2019) Review: Escapism Time Travel
He lives trying to escape from the real world, he prefers the fantasy in which he travels through time.
Still from Nobody is Crazy (2019)
★★★★
Drama, Fantasy, International (104 minutes)
dir. Federico J. Arioni
Starring: José Manuel Gutierrez, Federico J. Arioni, Lara Ammi Wheeler
When a teenager with psychological problems meets an eccentric masked guy who claims to be a time traveler, he decides to spend the afternoons with him trying to learn how to be normal so that his overwhelming mother doesn't put him in a military high school.
— Official Synopsis
As someone who has always struggled with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), I’ve wanted nothing more than to escape reality for most of my life. Perhaps, the very diagnosis that hinders my daily existence is half the reason I find solace in the cinema. To enter a fictionalized reality and completely erase my everyday anxiety—even for just a few minutes—allows me a sea of comfort. Believe me, it sounds extreme but you should see how staged my home looks; my particular OCD reveals itself in physical space. Others have…well, a different experience.
For instance, Rafa’s (José Manuel Gutierrez) infatuation with the screen prevents him from living a normal life. We first are introduced to our main character in Nobody is Crazy through voiceover—we learn that his adopted family doesn’t understand him and, in turn, he doesn’t quite understand the surrounding world. As he speaks to his mother at the kitchen table one morning, his eyes wander to the static screen across the room. Rafa certainly has a disdain for his atypical behavior, yet he refuses to conform to the expectations of others. Even the criteria set by his own family.
Still from Nobody is Crazy (2019)
But when a mysterious, masked figure named Nadie (Federico J. Arioni) claims to be a time traveler, he’s forced to confront reality and reconcile his own psychological baggage. Nobody is Crazy presents an enticing narrative about our own fate and how much control we have over it. The manifestation of this otherworldly presence in Rafa’s life presents a challenge of faith. It’s analogous to his own compulsion of living through fiction. Is Nadie telling the truth about his adventures? Is the man really just an escaped asylum patient? Does it even matter?
Writer-director Arioni reinforces these parallels through a playfully, clever script and heightened by Germán Salvador’s swelling soundscapes. As a persistent narrator can often be overwhelming to a general audience, Arioni tactfully employs the narration as more of a guiding head-voice to enlighten the viewer with touching meta commentary. Commentary that challenges the audience to embrace heady, internal dialogue within themselves about life’s purpose. Arioni states, “If everything is predestined, then do our decisions matter?” The film refuses to accept that our past—our trauma—should be ignored. No matter how big or small.
Still from Nobody is Crazy (2019)
Additionally, the filmmakers took extra care in the production to make the best version of this film possible. Jonatan Robledo’s sharp cinematography allows the performances from Arioni, Gutierrez, and Lara Ammi Wheeler (Daria) to center the action on themselves. I was especially impressed with the use of deep-focus and wide frames to isolate the characters for moments of reflection. Pay even closer attention to how effective the use of intercuts are in the third act, as I was floored with the tonal shift and care given to the story, itself.
Indeed, the film is meant to be somewhat of a mind-bending exercise, yet it avoids accentuating the tired tropes familiar to the genre. Nobody is Crazy offers a tender coming-of-age tale, bubbling with authenticity and pure intention. No other indie film I’ve seen this year is as objectively clear in its moral authority. Regardless of his true reality, Rafa will learn that time isn’t just a barrier to shatter but, perhaps, the greatest tool we have to chart our own destiny.
Nobody is Crazy premiered at Cine Teatro Español of Neuquén on August 5th, 2019. It had another screening in the same place on November 14th of the same year. On February 5th, 2020, it was screened at Ciclo de Cine Patagonico, in Plottier. Between 2019 and 2021 was screened at festivals in USA, India and Mexico.
Released on Blu-Ray on November 22, 2022 in the United States distributed by Bayview Entertainment. And on digital platforms such as Amazon Prime, Tubi, Apple TV+ and Vimeo On Demand in December of the same year.
