Nine Lives

I'd struggle to find anything uplifting to say about Nine Lives. It is certainly not of "cinematic" quality - however the quality of the video is no worse than the script, direction or acting (which are all lack-lustre). The story is painfully contrived and the film never gets better than it is in the first scene.

I loved "Breaking Away", which was released just at the time I got seriously into cycling - and long before I came out as gay - and I bought this film on DVD because I was interested to see Dennis Christopher in the cast - but he doesn't save the film.

I'd recommend that there are a million better ways to spend 75 minutes of your life, or to spend any amount of money. I still might throw the disc in the bin - I know I'll never watch it again or lend it to anyone.

In this contemporary U.S. gay version of La Ronde, nine persons relay portrayals of their lives in a day from one to another; simply, each character and his/her life described are not interesting enough. Towards the end, casting a married heterosexual African-American couple, whose wife says a clichéd statement of a well-educated, successful black female, ruins the otherwise consistent tone of the film, as all other characters are gay white males (except her husband). Explicit gay sex scenes seem to have little or no relation to the argument and make the film look like a pornography. Poor cinematography and sound also hurt.

As one of the surviving cast members of the watershed gay porn film L.A. TOOL AND DIE., directed by Joe Gage as part of his "Working Man's Trilogy", it would've probably been enough for Michael Kearns to 'rest on his laurels' as his place in the history of gay (or 'queer') cinema was pretty much secure. But he continued his work as an actor and playwright, his openly gay and HIV-poz status informing much of his work.

NINE LIVES is one of these examples, based on his play, "Complications." Where most gay independent films are found wanting in the sense that many of them are about young, good-looking gym bunnies who have lots of sex and drugs and no future, this is a story about much older people in very much the same plight. The twist is that we find out much more about their back stories and how they came to live this dangerous and ultimately hopeless lifestyle...and I don't mean that in the sexual sense, but in the sense that they have given up on themselves and their potential for various reasons.

Kearns himself leads off the film as a character who is something of a sex addict; an HIV-poz man who uses random encounters and booze as narcotics, to dull the pain of memories of lost happiness that has faded from his life, and the stark reality of his limited future.

Connected by him and his story, we get to meet a twenty-something Latino handyman, the upscale and unhappy gay couple he works for - and sleeps with (on an individual basis); a hustler/personal trainer of one half of the couple, who tricks for free with another character; a drug dealer caring for his disabled brother; a crystal meth addict serviced by the drug dealer, and finally a casual sex partner of the meth addict - a well-to-do black businessman with a pregnant wife, who also tricks with Kearns' character, bringing us back full-circle.

It's pretty safe to say that this is no comedy. There are very few if any laughs to be had here at all, and the characters range from the lonely and the forlorn to the downright unpleasant. The material never shies away from the fact that everyone in a relationship has their own agenda, whether that coupling lasts for five minutes or five years, or that there is inherent emotional (and even physical) danger in cutting ourselves off from a better understanding and effort to communicate with others - becoming "our own islands" as it were.

The technique of "camera-confessionals" - the characters speaking directly to the audience - will be annoying to some viewers, especially since it's a device that tends to be overused in independent films. But Kearns and co-writer/director Dean Howell have a great ear for dialogue, and though the stories are harrowing and painful at times, they are not out of character for any of the speakers, depending on who they are.

The photography, murky at times, is still nevertheless suitably bleak to complement the material. The acting here is first-rate, with plenty of nuances and no one dissolving into the clichéd histrionics that most films of this type fall prey to. I was astounded by the actors' sense of commitment, especially during the sex scenes, which are no more pornographic then the simulated rutting that takes place between straight couples in mainstream movies. It's the significance of the sex acts (we assume that none of the characters use protection of any kind) that will be disturbing to most, let alone the fact that such unbridled passion is occurring between men, without so much as a flinch from the unswerving camera.

Kearns is good, as you would expect him to be, and the other actors rise to the occasion as well, bravely baring the souls of their characters as much as they do some well-chiseled bodies. The standouts here are Dennis Christopher of "BREAKING AWAY" fame so long ago, as the drug dealer, Debra Wilson (formerly of MAD TV), proving that she is capable of so much more than just comedy, and Steve Callahan as one half of the bitter gay couple, so desperate for a chance at happiness that he takes measures even more tragic than risky bedroom encounters.

This is probably not going to be one of those "fun date night" movies for anybody, but NINE LIVES is a sugar-free, bracing dash of reality. The most depressing aspect of all is that its underlying message - about what awaits those who gamble with their lives and HIV status - is even more relevant now, than four years ago when this film was released.

I thought it was very well written, wonderfully acted but the most depressing film I've seen since "Dancer in the Dark." Every character is sick and dying leading selfish, though bleak lives infatuated with the most miserable aspects or times of their lives… AIDS, 9/11 and even JFK's assassination are obsessed over in surreal detail. Nothing cheerful, nothing funny happens... nothing to break the single gloomy tone... and maybe that was the point. Through it all though, I could not help but like and appreciate it and the talent involved. I didn't think the sex was all that more graphic then we've seen in about a hundred straight flicks, though I dare say that because it's guys getting naked instead of women there's going to be an unjust criticism of it (even from gay audiences). Personally, I thought it was refreshing to see some uninhibited male actors for a change. Hollywood and audiences pretty much demand bare breasts and glimpses of female nether-regions, or at the very least are so used to it that its not even a big deal in PG rated fare… take particular note of the gratuitous underwater shot in Steven Spielberg's Jaws at the beginning of the film where the camera practically swims up the actress. It is at the very least a double standard, at most sexism and homophobia offensively entwined. That is an attribute of this film and of all those involved, the brave defiance of convention. There is nothing worse then an independent film that tries too hard to be acceptable to mainstream Hollywood or Middle American pretentiousness. No matter how much an indie panders those two self-important factions, neither will accept the indie anyway. So why bother? This film dares to be its own entity and for that I salute it and all those involved. Bravo!!!

Based on the Michael Kearns' play 'Complications', NINE LIVES introduces a sequence of the lives of nine men who are interconnected by the fact they are all participants in the roundelay of casual sexual encounters. The technique used is that of each actor speaking to the audience about his background and how each ended up in the rather sad state of living in which they find themselves. The stories are interesting if a bit repetitive (parental abuse of both the verbal and physical type, the agonies of 'coming out'. and the specter of AIDS), but the script keeps the conversations mixed well with actual encounters so that we the audience are less confessional listeners so much as participants in the results of living life on the edge.

The cast is uniformly fine, a factor that keeps the film afloat in many instances. Particularly fine is Steve Callahan ('East Side Story') who seems to have a promising career. Director Dean Howell (who also wrote the screenplay) is another solid actor as are Eric Turic, William Christian, John Ganun, Dennis Christopher, Nick Salamone, Debra Wilson - well, the entire cast. The direction is tight and flows well from 'life to life', using sexual scenes where indicated, and keeping the focus on the darker side of the round of confessions. The cinematography by Mark A. Ryan keeps the look dark and coarse and a bit too much on the dreary side. The makeup artist Shari Balbien is none too kind to the actors' looks. Made in 2004 the film holds up well as far as content, a sad statement about the slow progress in the struggle against HIV infection. Grady Harp