Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Writer/director: Abel Ferrara, Defiant Screen Entertainment.
Zeros and Ones is enigmatic, and likely to be impugned, as it unfolds in a gloom that’s both verbatim and philosophical.
A scruffy Ethan Hawke (The Magnificent Seven, Training Day) stars as a rogue American soldier J.J. caught up in a sinister espionage plot in cult director Abel Ferrara’s compelling lockdown thriller.
Set on one deadly night in Rome, J.J. desperately seeks news of his imprisoned revolutionary twin brother, Justin (also played by Hawke), who may hold knowledge of an imminent terrorist attack. Navigating the capital’s darkened, pandemic-stricken streets, J.J. races against the clock in the hope of revealing an unknown enemy and preventing them from bringing the city, and the world, to its knees. He races to a series of ominous encounters to keep the Vatican from being blown up.
The confrontational ‘apocalyptic’ spy thriller is interesting in a dark and intricate way. It may not be to everyone’s liking, yet you are drawn to it. It can baffle, but it intrigues as well. With its stinging, prophetic, artistic and tenacious paranoia, this eerie political thriller is all about a mood: covert, ominous, unstable.
Director Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant, King Of New York, The Funeral) finds a partner in creating an atmosphere of perplexity amongst the dimness that cloaks the holy city through cinematographer Sean Price Williams’ encrusted frames.
Ferrara, known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies, is working with his long-time collaborators Leonardo Daniel Bianchi (Editing), Renate Schmaderer (Production Design) and composer Joe Della, best known for his ongoing team work with Ferrara.
Zeros and Ones is out on DVD
