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Contains strong languageThe ambitious debut feature of writer/director John Hardwick, 33X Around The Sun is a loose interpretation of the Orpheus/Eurydice myth that unfortunately gets lost in an arthouse limbo. Hardwick has transposed Orpheus' quest to bring back his dead wife from the underworld to a modern, urban setting. He has also excised much of what might be called story, preferring instead a trippy meander that introduces a number of abstract characters en route but fails to find any drama or profundity.
The film begins on a nighttime street with a police car that glows neon like a racer from Tron. It soon becomes clear that 33X Around The Sun also shares that movie's ability to baffle an orderly mind. Lars Rudolph (Werckmeister Harmonies) is the modern-day Orpheus, wandering the dark, abandoned streets with no ostensive purpose. Maybe he is searching for his Eurydice, though he protests he doesn't have a girlfriend.
"MORE ANNOYING THAN INTRIGUING"
Hardwick's modern underworld is a surreal labyrinth where time and space is elastic. Characters appear and disappear before the unnamed hero's eyes and offer cryptic dialogue that hints at the purpose of his quest. There's a self-conscious, willfully artful feel to all these encounters, but this is sub-Samuel Beckett stuff and the affected performances (notably a Greek chorus of workmen) are more annoying than intriguing.
The surprising lack of music adds to the fuzzy feel of the film as a whole, which leaves you as queasy as a long night on the cobbles.
