Film review NMIC

Underwhelming short film by The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos sees Matt Dillon followed around a city by a woman with a mad stare

An image from NMIC - Credit: Archant

There’s not much of anything out this week as everybody has piled in on next week when cinemas are due to reopen – let’s hope the Boris man doesn’t have a nasty surprise for them.

All of which is good for highbrow, curated streaming service MUBI who can make a bit of noise about exclusively having the latest film by acclaimed Greek auteur Yorgos (The Favourite, The Lobster, Dogtooth) Lanthimos.

That it’s less than 12 minutes long, and two of those are the end credits, they may prefer to keep quiet about.

After cellist Dillon asks a woman with a mad stare (Patakia) what the time is on a tube, she follows him around and mimics everything he does, not always successfully. That’s it basically and Lanthimos plonks this brief narrative down in front of you with his usual, inimical stony-faced indifference.

What does it all mean? Many artists’ work can be described as a puzzle, but with Lanthimos’ there’s a nagging suspicion that you’re a dupe if you try working it out. Best probably to leave it and move on. It’s just Nimic, innit?

2/5 stars