North of Zero: A weird, dusty little time-capsule

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, it depends on how much you like the smell of old celluloid. If you want a perfectly paced thriller, you’re going to be bored to tears within ten minutes. But if you’re like me and enjoy watching a movie struggle against its own limitations, this is a fascinating little mess.

Frances Upton is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Sometimes she looks like she’s in a completely different movie than the rest of the cast. It’s actually kind of charming in a weird way.

The vibe is... inconsistent

The pacing is all over the map. There are scenes where nothing happens for what feels like a week. Then, suddenly, someone is running or yelling, and the whole thing catches fire for about thirty seconds before cooling right back down to a crawl.

I couldn't help but think of the frantic energy in The Arizona Express while watching some of these sequences. They share that same desperate need to keep the plot moving, even when the plot clearly has nowhere left to go.

Oddly specific details

• There’s a background actor in the third act who spends almost the entire scene trying not to look at the camera.
• The lighting in the cafe scene is so dark I had to turn my screen brightness all the way up just to make sure someone was actually sitting there.
• The dialogue feels like it was written on a napkin during a lunch break.

There’s a moment where a character walks through a door, but the sound of the door closing happens about three seconds after they’ve already crossed the room. It’s little stuff like that which makes me feel like I’m sitting in the editing booth with them. It’s messy, but it feels real.

It’s nowhere near as polished as Isn't Life Wonderful, but it’s not trying to be. It’s just trying to exist, which is an accomplishment in its own right, I guess. 🤷‍♂️

Don't look for deep meaning here. You’ll just end up with a headache. Just watch the way the shadows fall across the set and enjoy the fact that this thing survived at all.