A Zed & Two Noughts Movie Review

Peter Greenaway, with A Zed & Two Noughts, gives us what is undoubtedly the ultimate film with time-lapse shots of decomposing animals. Seeing them swell up with maggots and then explode, well, it's enough to make you want to go out for ice cream.

Lest you think I'm joking, consider Greenaway's body of work, which has included plenty of equally perverse nonsense. This time out he's giving us a story -- if you can call it that -- of a doctor whose wife dies in a freak car crash in front of the zoo (think about the title) where his twin brother is researching the aforementioned decaying of dead things. The distraught brothers end up in a love affair with a woman named Alba, who lost one leg in the car accident and later decides to lop off the other one for kicks.

And so it goes.

I've seen a lot of Greenaway's work -- and some of it, like The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, is masterful. Zed stands as one of the most bizarre entries from a bizarre body of work. If the plot description alone doesn't make that apparent, the wacky music, insane symbolism, and jaw-dropping finale will. What's with the snails? Hell if I know. How can I review this film? I'm still trying to get over the swan that looks like it's about to get back up, only to bust open with blood and bugs shooting all over the place. That ain't right.

Watch it, if you can.