Beyond that, I will not spoil, but the ways in which Nowhere Mind brings back its original questions and answers them is thrilling. A lot of this has to do with the remarkable cast Nissen assembles for his trippy drama. It is tricky to make a cheating spouse sympathetic without making the significant other an absolute jerk, but such a thing happens here. It is not due to the writing, which is iffy for the first 15 or 20 minutes. It is the charm of Searles, whose smile makes anything she does seem like a good idea. It is the disarming manner in which Coakley avoids several cliches when acting like a man whose mind can’t always be trusted. It is the way Graves is the life of the party, a man who talks about his enormous porn collection in a light-hearted, jovial manner.
These three carry the film over its rough patches. Those issues only extend to character introductions and the rationale for the continuing affair. Thankfully, once the camping begins and Nowhere Mind becomes a cat and mouse game of sorts, things become engrossing and thought-provoking.
“…a cat and mouse game of sorts, things become engrossing and thought-provoking.”
Nissen’s peppering of the lofty ideas held by Ivan is his best choice as a writer. As these thoughts and beliefs get more pronounced in the last act of the film, they don’t come out of thin air. The ending is both devilishly clever and heartbreaking, and having to be so vague about how and why it works is hard. However, ruining the impact of the ending does a disservice to the filmmakers and their goals with Nowhere Mind.
As a director, Nissen fairs very well. While the two scenes of characters drinking (at the bar and John’s place) are shot in a journeyman manner, the intercutting of the experiences Ivan has during meditations livens things up. One night, Ivan believes he switched conscious bodies with a spider. Yes, the audience is treated to a point-of-view scene of being a spider, and it is visually engaging. The way the film edits back and forth between Ivan’s mind betraying him, and Ivan trying to meditate to gain control over his faculties again keeps a sense of urgency running for the whole film.
