First, If you’ve never seen Stranger Than Fiction, it is one of the best, if not the actual best Will Ferrel film ever made. It’s not his standard fare, but it has a lot to offer and I strongly recommend that you check it out. Zoom is definitely in that same vein, but also features a whole new level of complexity that looks like it could be a hell of a lot of fun.
The new film stars Alison Pill as Emma, a comic-book writer who is writing a story about her fictional dream man, Edward, played by Gael Garcia Bernal. Edward meanwhile is a film director who is making a movie about a Brazilian model named Michelle, played by Mariana Ximenes. Meanwhile, Michelle is an author who happens to be writing a book about a fictional comic book writer named Emma. Does your head hurt yet?
Just to make the movie even more attractive, they’ve thrown in Tyler Labine, one of my favorite actors (and not just because of Tucker and Dale vs Evil).
Emma (Alison Pill) is a comic-book artist who works by day in a factory that makes sex dolls, which is messing with her head. In an attempt to get herself closer to the plastic fantasy image that surrounds her, she makes a rash decision. Then she decides she wants to reverse that choice, but it’s too late and too expensive to turn back. Fortunately, Michelle (Mariana Ximenes), the aspiring novelist writing Emma’s story, gives her a way out. In turn, Emma controls the story of Edward (Gael García Bernal, also appearing at the Festival in Desierto), the filmmaker at the centre of the comic book she’s drawing. He’s a successful action-movie director with no shortage of confidence and an urge to make more artistically ambitious films. But, in a cruel joke, Emma takes her pen to the root of this man’s vanity, shrivelling his confidence instantly. He begins to struggle with his film about Michelle, a Brazilian model living in Toronto and trying to write a novel about a cartoonist. In a bid to escape the fashion world and immerse herself in her writing, she returns to Brazil, finding a small fishing village where the pressure to complete her novel leads her to Alice (Cláudia Ohana), a hotel owner who changes her life. Of course, the hand of Michelle’s creator, the action-movie director who wants to be a serious auteur, is never far behind.