Christophe(r) Lambert heads an international cast in this 1997 French-Italian(?) co-production. While the movie doesn't have the big budget a Hollywood blockbuster would have had, it still manages to create an interesting & convincing near-future world. Actually, it's one of the few films that really manage to create a decent cyberpunk setting; right now, I can only think of "Nemesis" which was a pretty good effort, and then there's always "Blade Runner", of course...

As for the acting in this movie, it's always tough to rate the level of acting when the movie is dubbed, but all in all I'm not complaining. Lambert is good, and Diego Abatantuono (sp?) is interesting as the sentient game character Solo - and kind of appropriate, too, since he has the physical look of a real-life "Mario on steroids". :-)

There are also several nice touches of humour, that prevent the movie from taking itself too seriously (check out the meditating guy later on in the movie for a nice example...). Finally, there is some nice music in there as well.

All in all, an enjoyable little movie - with cult potential, I think.

Director Gabriele Salvatores and his collaborators, Pino Caciucci and Gloria Corica, came up with one of the most stylish films in recent memory when they decided to undergo this project. "Nirvana", which was shot in Italy, was done for under ten million, something that in Hollywood it would have cost ten times more without any major stars. It shows how talented Mr. Salvatores, a director we had admired for his previous work, can produce a marvelous film with little. As he showed with his excellent film, "I'm Not Scared", the director is up to the challenge.

This film will resonate with sci-fi and cyberpunk fans who will clearly see a lot in this intricate movie that has some of the best special effects in quite some time. The costumes alone, designed by Giorgio Armani, Patrizia Cherecomi, and Florence Emir, are worth the price of the DVD rental. The atmosphere captured by Italo Petriccione's cinematography and the music by Federico DeRobertis and Mauro Pagani, are blended well in Massimo Fiocchi's editing.

The actors are all fine. Christian Lambert plays his role of Jimi Dini in his usual deadpan style, which helps set the tone of the movie. Diego Abatantuono, one of the best Italian actors of the last years makes a contribution with his Solo. Stefania Rocca, Emmanuelle Seigner, Amanda Sandrelli, add their beauty to the story.

"Nirvana" is a great film to look at, in the tradition of others of the genre. Gabriele Salvatores shows why he is one of the best Italian directors of his generation.

I've been a fan of Gabrielle Salvatores' dreamy, surrealistic style ever since I saw the first 5 minutes of "Denti" (2000). Now there's a film for movie buffs to sink their teeth into, lame pun intended. I immediately went on the hunt and found his follow up films, "Io non ho paura" (2003) and "Quo Vadis Baby" (2005) which I also thoroughly enjoyed, and now I'm working my way backwards to his earlier films.

Then I saw "Nirvana" (1997) and it stopped me dead in my tracks. My first impression was that it's a really good story but the presentation fell short, felt incomplete and lacked authenticity. Then I found out that's because the Miramax (DVD) is a total hack job of the original film, with 20 minutes chopped off and distracting dubbing of all the actors' voices. In case you didn't already know, the original film is in Italian, and it was dubbed into English for this particular DVD.

The story itself is really interesting, and it's a cut above all the other cyberpunk movies that were churned out in the late 90s capitalizing on the burgeoning net culture. "Nirvana" is set in a dystopian future à la Bladerunner and follows 3 days in the life of a software programmer (Christopher Lambert) who is about to deliver his masterpiece virtual reality game called Nirvana. The problem: with only 3 days to go before it hits the market, the main character in the video game becomes self-aware and starts questioning the game he's in. The movie then splits into 2 concurrent timelines, one with Lambert trying to stop the game's release, and two with the video game character trying to understand his own existence.

With a good dose of action, lots of style and peppered with some good unexpected comedic moments, the film is entertaining. But (I'm assuming due to the Miramax hack job) it often feels rushed, disorienting or just plain nonsensical at times. If you watch the Miramax DVD (96 mins) be sure to take it with a grain of salt, or as I'm trying to do, hunt down the original 113 min Italian version which is generally loved by all who have seen it.