A few years back it began to feel to me like identifying my favorite movie of all time had gotten too difficult, like choosing one over all the others was impossible because I loved them all too much. For the longest time it was consistent—I would go to see all these flicks that would turn me into a rapt, raving, ravaged mess, but they didn't exactly leave me feeling like a changed person.
This was not the case when I watched Nothing Lasts Forever.
Its history and production details are as interesting as the film itself. It was written and directed Tom Schiller, who is probably most notable for his (pre-taped) work on Saturday Night Live. Long before The Lonely Island's 100-plus Digital Shorts and the touching weirdness of Mike O'Brien, Schiller made short films featuring the OG Not Ready for Primetime Players and other SNL greats in a segment called "Schiller's Reel." His opus includes "La Dolce Gilda," an homage to La Dolce Vida featuring Gilda Radner; the sadly ironic "Don't Look Back in Anger" with an elderly John Belushi, written to be the last surviving cast member, at a cemetry lamenting the loss of his co-stars; and the whimsically wistful "Love is a Dream," a sweeping song-and-dance number with Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks.
In fact, it's so deeply rooted in SNL that it arguably deserves a spot on this list right between The Blues Brothers and Wayne's World. It was produced by Lorne Michaels, it features music by Howard Shore, and Bill Murray (playing an affably evil bus attendant who doesn't scrimp on Murray's signature deadpan snark) and Dan Aykroyd (as the protagonist's slightly goofy no-nonsense boss) steal whatever scene they're in despite minor/supporting roles.
But the thing about this that fascinates me to no end is its release—rather, lack thereof. Slated to come out in 1984, its scheduled premiere date was postponed by MGM and it was subsequently shelved. As of today it has never been released theatrically or on home media, and because of this has achieved cult status, even considered a "lost film" at times. Still, it made its way around through screenings hosted by Schiller and Murray, as well as being shown on European television, VHS-ripped bootlegs from which made it onto the internet...and therefore, all the way to me, thirty-two years later. (It has since been broadcast on Turner Classic Movies for US audiences.)
Nothing Lasts Forever stars Zach Galligan, then nineteen, as Adam Beckett, a would-be artist who hasn't quite found his craft. Tired of waiting around for his calling, he leaves Europe in a rush and departs for his hometown of New York City, punctuating his actions with an endearing declaration that he will be an artist, swearing on names like Jesus, Buddha, and even James Joyce. He arrives in what looks to be the New York of a retro alternate universe, which is governed by a port authority and requires him to provide proof of artistry within a limited amount of time before he is accepted as a citizen. In the meantime, he takes a filler job watching traffic and begins seeing his sultry German "Dadaist at heart" co-worker. However, when he gives a homeless man some coffee outside Carnegie Hall, Adam realizes that nothing is what it seems in the city and soon finds himself on a bus trip to the moon because of it.
Let me repeat myself: He boards a bus. To the moon. Where he is bound to meet Eloy, a beautiful young woman, and realize his true destiny.
The overall style is what makes it stand out by a mile at first glance. Shot in (partial) black and white, it looks and feels as though it were set anywhere between the 1930s and the 1950s, and this is helped by creative decisions that give it the necessary charm. The visual effects and props used mimic the "magic" of cinema in the early days of filmmaking, such as the use of vintage animation, miniature sets, and cardboard cutouts. The supporting cast is also filled with classic Hollywood actors, although I'm not really familiar with them. Schiller successfully recalled the appeal of decades long gone and submerged his movie in them; nothing about it brings to mind 1984.
It's also absurdly funny, smart, and weird in all the best ways, while remaining wonderfully whimsical, lighthearted, and touching. It's a satire of consumerism—the moon just so happens to be a supermall. It's magical realism. It's a swoon-inducing romance. It's a quest for identity. It even manages to be an art film with European eccentricity. It's political commentary, using art as anarchy!
I was totally mesmerized a few minutes in and I was in love with it not long after. I couldn't look away, and it made me want to believe in everything it tried to tell me. I know it's not the greatest piece of cinema ever made, and it's not for everyone, but it speaks to me. Another thing I know is: My feelings may change somewhere down the line, because they always do. But at some point in my life, when I was trying to find my own self, this little gem enthralled me and opened up avenues of understanding, and it was all I can ask for.
*
For more on Nothing Lasts Forever, check out these features on Motherboard, The New Yorker, The A.V. Club, and Geeks of Doom. There's also Nothing Lost Forever, a book by Michael Streeter about Tom Schiller and his work, which discusses NLF at length and includes interviews with Schiller, Zach Galligan, Dan Aykroyd, and Bill Murray, among other SNL personalities and notable people.
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