Número 9

I will begin with the admission that this is not a boring film. It succeeds in holding one's interest, as it might be one of the very least predictable movies I can recall. Essentially, without giving anything away, although you won't be missing much, it's divided into three vignettes. The first one acquaints us with a distressed Hollywood actor, Gary, under house arrest living in another person's house because he burned down his own. While confined, he is taken care of by both a chubby P.R. 'handler' and the sexy single mom next door, who may or may not be interested in him sexually. Over this time, Gary becomes convinced that he is being haunted by the number nine.

Then comes the next segment while we are reeling with curiosity. It follows a gay television writer, Gavin, played by Ryan Reynolds, who played Gary before, trying to get his pilot made. We raise an eyebrow when we find that the house he lives in is the house Gary later stays in. Hm. At some stage in the course of post-production, a television executive pushes for Gavin to ditch the unconventional (chubby) lead actress of his project, played by the same actress who played the PR rep before.

And then in the third act, a video game designer, again Ryan Reynolds and again a name beginning with "Ga," is lost when his car breaks down, a situation shown in Gavin's pilot. He leaves his wife and daughter with the stranded vehicle and meets a mysterious woman. By the time this act reaches its revelation, the wide-eyed look of curiosity on your face becomes an empty expression, a time void for your muscles, as the big surprise that binds these bizarre fragments and concludes. You will have been led on a wild goose chase and once you catch the goose, the filmmaker, John August, has been pandering to his own wishful fantasies of spiritual grandeur, under the oh-so-impressive guise of a film that explores the concept of simulated reality.

In any case, the film has no atmosphere, the cast surrounding Reynolds has no charisma in spite of decent deliveries, and when it's over, one only wants to forget about it. The only props I give are for its aforementioned success with its lack of probable expectations, even if it's all for the least satisfying pay-off. Imagine Sharon Stone flirting with you, playing footsie, offering you a ride home, putting her hand on your lap, then going to her place and finding that she enticed you there only to show off her collection of china patterns. On a smaller scale, that is what you will experience if you see The Nines.

The Nines tells three short stories, the first of about an actor who is under house arrest after flipping over his car, the second is about a writer who's pilot TV show is in jeopardy and the last deals with a video game designer lost in the woods after his car breaks down. All three stories are told with the same actors.

When I first heard about The Nines, everyone was raving about how original it was and how it was like nothing they have ever seen before. So obviously it peeked my interest. After finally watching the film, I can see where it gets it's praise, but don't fully understand why it's getting so much of it. Yes, The Nines is original and keeps you guessing until the very end, but the pay off isn't as good as the rest of the film.

This is John August's directorial debut, if you don't know who August is, he's the writer of such films like Big Fish, Corpse Bride and Go. The Nines is another impressive entry to his already good resume. It seems that August was confident enough to tackle this big project. I applaud him ambitions. He didn't fail by any means, but he didn't blow me away either. It is always a love hate relationship when the writer is the director. When it works, you get Pulp Fiction, when it doesn't you get Blade Trinity. When the writer is the director, he knows exactly what he wants, he knows the characters inside out and how to bring everything together. The Nines doesn't seem to fall into either category, it seems to sit on the fence.

Ryan Reynolds proves again that he has more range then people give him credit for. He might have painted himself into a corner with Van Wilder and Waiting, but he seems to be slowly breaking free of it. He showed range at the very end of Smoking Aces and in the recent rom com Definitely Maybe. With The Nines he again proves why he is underestimated and will bring greater things in the future. Reynolds plays the lead in all three shorts. We see him as a crack addicted actor, gay writer and family man video game designer. While he doesn't blow you away with his performance, he does manage to capture you and bring you along for the ride from start to finish.

Hope Davis appears here in a supporting role, again playing three different characters in all three shorts. She manages to get so much across the screen by doing so little. A look here or move there and you know exactly what she is thinking. Melissa McCarthy plays herself in one segment, I think she had the hardest job. She has to be bubbly, scared, mean and informative.

The three segments are all shot differently. The first segment, titled The Prisoner, showcases bright reds and yellows and was shot on 16mm. The second segment, titles reality television is shot on video. The entire segment plays out like a reality TV show as we follow Gavin (reynolds) and his troubles in trying to get his pilot on air. The third and final segment, titled Knowing, is darker and shot on 35mm. The third segment has the same title as the pilot that Gavin in the second segment is writing. Even the same events take place. Without giving too much away, all three segment interconnect with each other. But not exactly in a way you want or think.

If you are confused after watching the film, join the club. I knew what happened and sort of got some things, but had to read up on it to see what others thought to finally connect the dots. The films does a very good job of teasing the viewer with bits of information and bringing them along asking questions left right and centre. As the film concludes you sit there wondering if you are satisfied or not. I still do not know really. I like the idea behind the film and the presentation was nice, but the way they dragged us along seemed like it would amount to something bigger, something deeper, something more then what we are ultimately given.

The film doesn't answer everything and it doesn't need to. It's a film that leaves it's answers up to the viewer, to make whatever assumptions they want. But even this isn't satisfying enough. I guess because all the hype I head prior, I expected more. If you go into it not knowing anything about it, you will be pleasantly surprised.

The film is divided in to three acts: "The Prisoner" tells of a troubled actor, Gary, under house arrest living in another person's house because he burned down his own. While living in the house he is befriended by both a P.R. 'handler', Margaret, and the single mom next door, Sarah, who may or may not be interested in him romantically. Over the course of his house arrest, Gary becomes convinced that he is being haunted by the number nine.

"Reality Television" tells of a television writer, Gavin, trying to get his pilot made. The house he lives in is the house Gary later stays in. During the process of post production and the 'upfronts', a television executive, Susan, pushes for Gary to ditch the unconventional lead actress of his project, Melissa. This segment was somewhat inspired by writer/director John August's own experiences in the television industry.

"Knowing" tells of an acclaimed video game designer, Gabriel, who is lost when his car breaks down, a situation shown in Gavin's pilot. Gabriel leaves his wife and daughter with the stranded vehicle and meets up with Sierra, a mysterious woman.

"The Nines" is a film definitely worth watching, just for the weirdness of it and how thought-provoking and unlike any film you've ever seen. It's in the vein of, let's say, "Being John Malkovich" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." This is the film where you won't stop thinking about it and that you'll talk about it with the people who have seen it.

It's not a film that you'll forget after the credits start rolling. Now that you get the point, it's time to talk about the movie. Even so, it's hard to describe this movie in words. When you ask people if this movie is good or not, they'll either like it or not, but it's hard to explain their reason and it's hard to explain why I love this.

The performance by the three main characters from the three stories, Ryan Reynolds, Melissa McCarthy, and Hope Davis, were all fantastic, having themselves to change their personality so much. It's pretty amazing. But of course, the movie will arise more questions than answering them. It's like "Donnie Darko," per se. This should be a cult hit, even though it isn't right now.

This is a really weird film and it's hard to explain anything, as you can tell. All I can say is watch it because the way the stories are told, the thought put into all of this, and the strong performances are already some reasons to watch it.

The Nines has some fantastic ideas and some really rather good performances (Melissa McCarthy is a constant joy throughout and Ryan Reynolds shows an impressive diversity for his acting league) however, after a promising start, loses its way as the story progresses.

A film of three distinct parts in a Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) style, The Nines deals with some seriously deep themes including philosophy, theology and betrayal. However, unlike Eternal Sunshine, the direction of John August (writer of Go and Big Fish) seems too straight and, dare I say it, Teen-like for such a film where a better choice of helm would have seem to be someone like David Lynch (Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks) or maybe Darren Aronofski (Pi, The Fountain). As it is the film progressively gets weirder and weirder and with it surrealism jars with the previous tone to the point it feels preposterous.

Worth a watch and nice to see someone try something new but ultimately disappointing.

I wrote this without reading any of the other reviews, mostly cos i didn't want them to influence my own, and partly cos i'm lazy. This was a very interesting film that left some to the imagination and a lot to interpretation (but not too much).

The film consists of 3 stories: the first about a house-arrested destructive TV star, the second a TV show writer with a new show in the works and the third a computer game creator stuck in the woods with his family. All three are played expertly by Ryan Reynolds. He is supported by two women, Hope Davis and Melissa McCarthy, who are also very good at enforcing the bizarre yet irresistible vision of John August, who has a good track record of writing screenplays, most notably with Tim Burton (it's worth ignoring the Charlie's Angels jobs though). The three leads play different parts in each. That alone should prepare you for the world he has created in The Nines.

It is difficult to talk of the story without giving too much away, John August has found a great concept and worked it brilliantly into a interpretable screenplay and image. The world he has created seems very real, with characters that operate in abnormal situations, but ones in which i think we all can relate, given our excessive access to reality TV and celebrity.

The direction is good, you know from the very start that the green woollen wristband holds significance, and the witty, experienced, inflective screen writing is a joy (though at times August gives a little more away than is necessary).

The film is a fantasy and the nines are a mystery, both collaborating in a way that captures the imagination. The three stories intersect and overlap with themes that confuse and inspire, which will leave many audiences pondering for awhile. But it is not as confusing as it may appear as the plot unfolds fairly intricately to those paying attention. All of the stories hold explanations, and the last explains it all.

I saw this with a friend who i wasn't expecting to enjoy it, but surprisingly they did. I giggled, guffawed and gasped, while we exchanged plot ideas and interpretations, throughout. Sometimes it became a little dry, but on the whole this a very well thought out drama mystery thriller with an excellent philosophy.