User reviews

Just saw this at TIFF several nights ago. It was a welcome change as the movies I had seen up to that point were excellent, but very heavy. In math there is this concept of a complex number consisting of a real part and an imaginary part. Many things in nature cannot be modelled by a real number alone, but need complex numbers. So the analogy in life is that we have our imaginary life and visions and these in turn influence are real lives which in turn generate more visions etc. They both exist together and not separately. The movie is a mixture of film and animation and it works very well. Emma draws a character who directs a movie who's actor is writing a novel. They all interact and involve each other. Very amusing, nice mixture of Canadian and Brazilian humour.

Really hard movie to describe, it's definitely a art-house project but a entertaining one that never feels to pretentious for it's own good despite it's multilayered and multidimensional bizarreness and existentialistic nature.

Despite having a somewhat serious message it has a high dosage of comedy and moves on at a refreshingly fast pace as well (these sort of experimental movies usually doesn't).

With some entertaining performances from the likes of Alison Pill, Tyler Labine, Michael Eklund, Jason Priestley and and albeit I didn't recognize him: Gael Garcia Bernal (as the animated Eddie).

Pill and Labine's characters work at a sex-doll facory specialising on the most realistic looking dolls in the business and there are a lot of sex references which might be a little too much for some people but I found it all fairly fun.

Overall if you are looking for something different than this will definitely do the trick.

I feel like I've been stumbling on movies like this a lot lately. Films with an excellent message/concept that suffer from someone just insisting on over the top artistry. In the case of Zoom, we get a movie with some very important commentary on body image, the perceptions we have of ourselves, the way our appearance impacts how others see us and how we see ourselves and our very potential. The problem is, this gets so far up inside of itself that it loses all focus. What could have been a simple and poignant film has to be twisted in a multilayered, contrived mess of a plot that's weirdly part Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

This isn't an awful watch, it's just lacking in focus and restraint. Trim some of the nonessential flourishes and this turns into a pretty poignant movie that I think has a terribly important message to get across. Sadly, we get what we get and that's not a rousing success exactly. It's an interesting watch and I think it's worth checking out for fans of the cast or those who are really caught by the trailer/description but if none of that grabs you I can't say this is a must watch.

Even though only a section of the film is animated using rotoscope, the whole movie has an indi comic feel, like Love and Rockets of Ghost World (which was made into a film)

The animation looks like it's the same as A Scanner Darkly, possible done by the same animation team, but in A Scanner Darkly it seems like the animation was a bigger arch.

It's an interesting circle about three people. Emma who works at a Factory that makes sex dolls, draws pictures of herself being a beautiful busty femme fatale, an image that the guy she's sleeping with finds absurd. In retaliation, she draws her dream guy, Eddie, a hot Spanish action film director who's doing a film he plans to use to take himself serious, but comes across a little problem when Emma, unhappy with her new boobs decides to get rid of the "package" that made him a hot commodity in Hollywood, and effects the making of his film about Michelle, a Brazilian model tired of being judge on her looks, who goes home to write a novel that just so happens to be about Emma.

It's a nicely layered story and becomes very surrealistic, as all three story tellers take us through their creative process, and if anyone knows anything about the creative process, the story goes through constant changes which switches the tone in order to make the story work.

It's a very unformulated movie that goes from the tame to the outrageous, and keeps me captivated with some very interesting personas moving on the screen.

cinemagardens.com

If you're wondering how is it possible that this movie is so good and yet you have missed it, the reason is two-fold. One, it's a Canadian movie. Second, it is smarter than it is commercial, something that, ironically, is being touched on in the film.

The idea is quite fresh: this Brazilian model is writing a book about a girl that works in a sex doll factory and who is writing a comic about the man of her dreams who is a famous director directing the movie in which the lead character is the Brazilian model. The whole plot is a metaphor on the toxic loop in which we live our lives.

The individual stories were interesting enough, each touching on human vanity. Motifs like the role of the woman in society, our obsession with looking different from what we are, whether it is about the size of tits or penis or whether we are perfectly attractive and resent being seen as sex objects, and how the things we do in life come back to haunt us are everywhere.

I did like the film a lot because it was self referential while zooming in on the viewer and their own effect on themselves and everybody else. I recommend it highly.

Good film. Not for everybody but I found it refreshing and quite masterly conducted. It should appeal to all Zeta GENERATION MEMBERS.

To conduct three parallel developments is a plus

and I recommend the film to everyone. Jean-Pierre DE Villers, U of Windsor. Go see it JPdV

There is some positive and negative things about Zoom but overall it's worth a watch. The positives are the acting, that was quite good, the cinematography that was to me the best part of this movie, the animation parts were also well done and added something special to the story. The story itself is innovative but it's complexity might scare some viewers off. It's basically a story in a story in a story, all related to each other in a weird way. Weird isn't necessary bad, you just have to have an open mind. If not, then maybe this movie isn't for you. I liked it. Could it have been better? Yes sure but still it was entertaining enough to keep my attention.

I'm going to s start at the end. One of the last lines of the film is the Producer saying "THAT'S the e ending?" Boy was she right! This movie has a b bizarre b but interesting premise,but the mechanics aren't well done,so it trips itself up and you get lost in the minutia. Very strange movie. Pass this one up.

A fun concept, reasonably well executed although the black comedy was weak. Solid performances by the cast although Gael Garcia Bernal was a little two dimensional 😅.

The film has a lot of artistic a conceptual value, but it end up falling apart in the last minutes when it can't keep up with his own logic. None the last I think its worth watching just for his fresh style and concept. The scrip is very good and funny until the last part when the director had to just find a way to end the movie. But once again, I think is worth watching for his originality.

I have just seen this for the first time and I've haven't been this delighted with any movie for a very, very long time.

If you're a writer, illustrator, screen writer, film maker, artist and Bowie fan, which I am, you're going to love this.

I usually feel like I'm not the target audience, but for this one it was so bang on, I am wondering whether I just imagined it as a movie tailor made for me.

Top marks to the writers and director, they got together and created something truly delightful. A bright star among the usual cliches, handled with a wonderfully light touch and real intelligence. Absolutely loved it.

Emma works at a sex doll factory and in her spare time is writing/drawing a comic book. Edward is a famous movie director, working on his latest movie. Michelle is a model and is writing a novel. The three are connected: Edward and his world are found in the pages of Emma's comic book, Michelle's story is Edward's movie and Emma's story is Michelle's book.

Had heaps of potential. Very novel idea - the story-within-a-story- within-the-first-story - very Christopher Nolan-esque.

However, even from the beginning the movie doesn't really live up to its potential. Only the Emma story was engaging. Edward's story is mildly interesting but not exactly compelling viewing. Michelle's story was pretty dull.

Moreover, when the three stories are tied together it is in chaotic, random fashion. The last few scenes feel clumsy and contrived, and the connection between the three stories is ultimately not used effectively. This largely leaves you with three separate, independent stories. So the novelty is wasted.

Overall, not a total waste of time, but quite disappointing considering the movie's potential.

Alison Pil is a hoot.

Very creative. Mixing animation with real life and a movie. Took me a minute to wrap my head around it but then I was off on such a wonderful ride.

The narrative moves forward quickly but you won't get lost. The music is delightful and energetic, and the doll factory is amazing.

The special order guy from Buffalo is definitely creepy, but you'll love him, and you'll really love how changing one story makes changes in the other two at the same time.

Definitely an unusual piece of movie making and well worth your time.

Clever idea but it didn't come together until the end and everything up until that point was utterly boring.

Worst film I have seen in some time.

Zoom, not to be confused w/the Tim Allen superhero comedy from a few years ago, tells the bifurcated tale of dreamers, one whose recent breast augmentation longs for acceptance & an animated (?) filmmaker whose new art piece longs for acceptance from the masses. Intriguing no? I wish it was but why would indie stalwarts like Alison Pill & Gael Garcia Bernal waste their time on this dribble is beyond most. Yes mother even Canada puts out the occasional cinematic turd.

You'd have to be crazy to like this movie.

I loved it.

Zoom has an original plot, great acting, and was just confusing enough to keep me guessing.

The international story line helped shine a light on the meme of Hollywood's usual containment of creativity. Art for the sake of art becomes representative of the interwoven lives of us all.

It would be easy to write this off as another experimental film but I predict it will become an iconic piece studied and used as a barometer for creative license.

Finally, it was just simple fun.

Highly recommended

Terrible script, Terrible acting. How in the world did this movie get made? Self funded?

More garbage made to make white men look like bumbling idiots while blonde bimbos are strong Independent women. More woke garbage from a woke Hollywood. Don't bother