Avis Metacritic

What could have been a parlor game becomes a surprisingly rich sketchbook, boosted by the work of fine actors.

Garcia is a thoughtful filmmaker not only by the group of actors he has gathered, but in remembering that there has been and will be people watching his movie.

A bold film both in its storytelling strategies and its filmmaking logistics.

Together, however, they add up to a film that may be the closest movies have come to the cinematic equivalent of a collection of Chekhov short stories.

That rare episode film that actually accrues a cumulative power and doesn't merely proceed from one segment to the next.

Though the episodic structure results in a whole not quite equal to some of its parts, pic is an unusually tender, perceptive character study buoyed by stellar performances from a who's who of talented (and many underused) actresses.

A couple of the stories don't quite accomplish what Rodrigo intends, but most are poignant, disturbing, and superbly acted.

The uneven Nine Lives has an impressive cast, but the best section features the great Mexican actress Elpidio Carrillo as a prison inmate kept from her child.

Nine Lives hands the viewer a lot of work -- learning a whole new set of characters every few minutes -- for a disappointing wage. The bad stories waste your time, and the good ones leave you unsatisfied.

In yet another roundelay that, like "Crash" and "Heights," follows the "Short Cuts" template of cosmic interconnection.