Anesthesia

Anesthesia

So, which one of you bastards introduced Tim Blake Nelson to nihilism? Among other things, I’m going to assume that the man who made “Eye of God” and “Leaves of Grass” must have read works such as “Ex Nihil” or “The Conspiracy Against the Human Race” lousy philosophical tracts that only achieved a broader readership after True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto cited them as partial inspiration for his HBO drama’s first season. But I’d rather believe that Anesthesia, Nelson’s fifth film as a writer-director, wasn’t originally his idea; this will become clearer later.

An equal parts civics lesson and ideological confession, Anesthesia plays like a particularly grim Pay It Forward follow-up in which nobody learns that they can’t make positive change in each other’s lives and so distract themselves from the futility of existence by doing drugs and raising children. A cast full of famous actors Kristen Stewart, Gretchen Mol, Glenn Close, Corey Stoll, Michael K. Williams join forces to breathe dramatic life into Nelson’s echo chamber.

Many of Nelson’s characters have been delineated only by what they fret about and how they act, making Joe the most attractive character by default because he gets all the good speeches. This is particularly fatal to “Anesthesia” when its many stories break down into a bunch of monologues. Poor Kristen Stewart does a great job with lousy material when Sophie confesses that she burns her forearms with a curling iron to confirm that she exists.

There’s real pain in Sophie’s biggest rant, and it doesn’t just come from Stewart’s performance, but that sympathetic hurt is considerably dulled by the fact that we don’t really know who Sophie is beyond one pointless cafeteria altercation, and a couple of theoretical conversations with Zarrow. Large parts of “Anesthesia” feel like strangers’ confessions.

This is a movie about empathy after all, i.e. human emotions reduced to abstract consideration. Joe’s struggle with addiction is probably the best part of “Anesthesia” because Nelson spends time representing Joe’s anger. He curses frantically as he struggles to break out of a hospital gurney he’s been strapped into against his will. And he half-prays half-curses Jeffrey when he doesn’t pick up his “goddamn phone.” It feels very real even though it’s also essentially a type of character. Joe contrasts with Zarrow’s optimism, and represents one end of an emotional spectrum that multiple characters including young pothead Hal (Ben Konigsberg) gravitate towards.

The film often leads you around in circles (as Zarrow fearfully admits during one of his later speeches); it’s a weirdly over-determined cri di coeur that feels simultaneously over and under done with dogged resolutions for everything while remaining ambiguous about most things at best. Still I want to recommend Nelson’s film despite how misconceived it is simply because it asks interesting questions, albeit in some of the most banal ways imaginable.

That seems to be the only way out of Nelson’s echo chamber: invite people in, and make the conversation a dialogue. I’m very curious to read people’s thoughts on the film, so if you see “Anesthesia,” please tell me what you think. And in the meantime: if you turned Tim Blake Nelson on to nihilism, you can tell me that too. I won’t judge, promise.

Watch Anesthesia For Free On Gomovies.