Review: Novo

Taking a cue from Memento, Novo treats a flesh-and-blood man’s short-term memory as a kind of moral invisibility cloak.

Novo
Photo: IFC Films

Taking a cue from Christopher Nolan’s Memento, Novo treats a flesh-and-blood man’s short-term memory as a kind of moral invisibility cloak, but director Jean-Pierre Limosin and co-screenwriter Christophe Honoré choose not to exploit the man’s mystery disease for existential rewards. Instead, they position Graham (Eduardo Noriega) as the center of the universe, a ball of pure energy not unlike a spot from one of Jackson Pollock’s paintings (a scene at an art gallery is the centrifugal force of the film).

This is Memento as a sexy, sometimes tawdry romcom: Because the impossibly gorgeous Graham looks good with his clothes off, the women in his life take advantage of his inability to make new memories. He says his name is Graham. His boss does an African dance to seduce him. He looks on in terror. She tells him to take off his clothes. He obliges before taking her from behind. She makes him cum by slapping his ass. You realize quickly they’ve been here before and that it’s only a matter of time before the scene will repeat itself.

Though Irène (Anna Mouglalis) appreciates and takes advantage of Graham for being able to “fuck without a past,” he becomes loveable and his inability to create a history begins to frustrate numerous parties. Limosin’s playful visual style is sometimes undermined by needless fast-motion, and though the narrative is prone to kooky diversions and even kookier symbolism (the film literalizes the term “vagina dentate”), Novo is evocative of what it takes to build and destroy unions. It’s got nothing on Jean-Claude Brisseau’s Secret Things, but it’ll do.

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Score: 
 Cast: Eduardo Noriega, Anna Mouglalis, Nathalie Richard, Éric Caravaca, Paz Vega, Lény Bueno, Julie Gayet, Agathe Dronne  Director: Jean-Pierre Limosin  Screenwriter: Christophe Honoré, Jean-Pierre Limosin  Distributor: IFC Films  Running Time: 98 min  Rating: NR  Year: 2002  Buy: Video

Ed Gonzalez

Ed Gonzalez is the co-founder of Slant Magazine. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle, his writing has appeared in The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications.

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