VIFF 2025: The Nonsense, Make It Make Sense

So, on Tuesday The DC and I went to watch a movie called The Nonsense at VIFF. We went in excitedly; it looked like a cool thriller with a mystery to solve. There was a huge crowd for it, too. We ended up getting stuck in the standby line for a while.

The experience was... something. I wish I had better words, but I think our text chain encapsulates it better. I've posted it below.

The very first scene hooked us right away. Yu-Na, an insurance investigator, confronts a factory worker she suspects of fraud. He claims he lost a finger in a metal press accident, but she’s not convinced. To prove his story, he threatens to stick his hand back into the machine; he somehow thinks this will persuade her. Yu-Na just watches, stone-faced, as he slides his hand toward a machine designed to crush metal.

I will admit, The DC was adamant about watching this movie. I was intrigued, but not excited enough to stand in the standby line; however, guess where I ended up? That's right, the standby line, and it was intense because for a second there I thought DC wouldn't even end up getting into the theatre. 

My skepticism immediately faded after that first scene, though. I was hooked. That was a crazy opener! I should've known that it wouldn't last.

So, one plotline built into another and then there were so many plotlines that I couldn't figure out what the movie was even about anymore. The DC thinks I've a thing against stroke patients, but like, no, I have a thing against confusing narratives.

In the movie, Yu-Na's dad is a conman who had a stroke two years before (they add this tidbit so randomly into the narrative), and now he's comatose. Yu-Na and her mother are stuck paying back the money her dad stole. Also, the mom is very much into the spiritual to help them ward off evil vibes, and Yu-Na hates that shit. Do you see what I mean? Why so many things burdening this main character; it didn't make her more nuanced, it just felt like the movie wanted her to have trauma so we can sympathize with her. I did at first, but then they kept piling it on and I got bored. 

The thing that left us the most baffled was the villain. He’s some sort of comedian–therapist–mastermind hybrid. Whatever his plan was, it was nearly impossible to follow, let alone understand why he was doing any of it.

At one point, to prove how manipulative and “charismatic” he is, the movie shows him doing his bizarre therapy routine with a bullied kid. It’s a weird scene. No, seriously. I thought it was going in a completely different direction, and then they did something weirder. Deeply confusing in both tone and purpose.

There were some cool scenes in the movie that would have worked better in a better movie. In this one, they just come out of nowhere, add nothing to the plot except more confusion, and then disappear.

At one point The DC got distracted.

Okay, so I thought that the villain was supposedly this makeshift “Seize The Day” kinda dude who took the message too literally (I guess lowkey murder also counts as seizing the day?). Instead, the comedian/psychotherapist slowly morphed into this Joker-y persona but like so much worse than the actual Joker. He had no motivation for his decisions, and like 90% of his actions didn't even benefit him directly.

By the end, we were completely lost in the sauce. I had no idea where the plot was headed, who was winning, or even what game we were supposed to be watching.

Sadly, we walked out of that theatre genuinely lost. But, I guess the writers did something right because that movie stuck with us. The next day, I still had thoughts.

If you ever end up watching it and you understand the plot, please explain it to us. #weneedhelp

The Nonsense2024