Customer Reviews

Nine Lives

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The film, which is written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia ("Things You Can Tell By Looking At Her"), is a compilation of sympathetic vignettes centering on the lives of nine dissimilar women. Each abbreviated episode (10 to 12 minutes) has been staged as a continuous Steadicam shot and focuses in on one particular woman. Each woman's episode in the film is self-sustaining, although the occasional character can overlap into another woman's storyline - sometimes overlapping at the corners and sometimes as a more fully developed presence.

Sandra (Edpidia Carrillo) is a hard luck prison inmate at a woman's correctional facility awaiting a visit from her daughter. A very pregnant Diana (Robin Wright Penn) has a bittersweet and poignant chance encounter with an ex-lover, Damian (Jason Isaacs), while late night grocery shopping. Holly (Lisa Gay Hamilton) spirals out of control upon returning to her childhood home after a long absence. Lorna (Amy Brenneman) finds both a chilly and an unforeseen reception while attending the funeral of her ex-husband's (William Fichtner) second wife. Sonia (Holly Hunter) and her boyfriend, Martin (Stephen Dillane), have a bitter and inappropriate argument while visiting another couple in their new apartment. Ruth (Sissy Spacek) contemplates having an adulterous affair with Henry (Aidan Quinn). My favorite storyline is that of a hospital patient, Camilla (Kathy Baker), and her husband, Richard (Joe Mantegna). Awaiting a preoperative visit from her surgeon, Camilla is anxious and angry, lashing out at everyone, but especially Richard. Poor Richard (who wants to be supportive and comfort his wife) cannot seem to say anything right. It is only after receiving a sedative injection that Camilla finally becomes calm, allowing Richard to safely approach her, and permitting the audience to see the tenderness which is at the core of their relationship.

It is quite apparent that director Rodrigo Garcia genuinely likes women and accepts them despite their flaws and imperfections. Each woman's storyline (with one exception) feels authentic, as if the audience had just intruded on a particular woman's life, leaving you to draw your own conclusions and fill in any back-story.

What this film IS: A thoughtful exploration of individual moments in the lives of many different women, all of them facing some crisis or difficulty. It is also the closest thing to a short story collection I've seen on film - if the short stories cut straight to the climax of each story (read on, you'll understand what I mean).

What this film is NOT: A suspense or escape thriller with all the answers handed to the viewer at the conclusion. This isn't a "feel good" flick, although there are parts which are touching and warm. It is intense and if you don't pay attention, you'll miss subtle but crucial moments.

I was stuck by the amazing complexity in the lives of each of these women (and their men as well) and by the rather audacious decison by the director to leave lots of questions unanswered, allowing the viewer to imagine what happens next to each character, to fill in the spaces...or just to keep wondering about the whys and wherefores.

You see each women at a major moment in her life but you don't really know the entire backstory, nor do you know what will happen next. A pregnant woman meets her old boyfriend in a grocery store and the moment sets off a shockwave of emotion. Another woman confronts her stepfather, gun in hand, but...why? Was there sexual abuse? Or something else that has left her so angry, unhinged and desperate? A young girl seems to be managing to keep peace in her home, to look after her disabled father and to keep her parents together - or is she? Sometimes one woman will show up in another woman's episode, so that there is some overlap and you get a chance to see another side of a person's character.

If you don't like loose ends, I'd suggest you stay away from this film. But I loved it, love the acknowledgment that sometimes there are crucial moments that may be AS important - or MORE important- than the moments that came before or since. Pivotal moments. And does it really matter what happens next? To see more might actually make the crucial moment less intense, less meaningful.

An extremely creative, daring, magical film!

IF YOU GET THE DVD: There are some very nice special features in the DVD, including interviews with the actresses who give THEIR interpretation of the characters they play. This led to some new insights as I listened to them speak about what they thought of their characters and what motivated them. There are other "behind the scenes" moments which show how certain parts of the film were set up and shot.

This 2005 film includes nine different vignettes. All of them are about turning points in women's lives. There's some star power here including Glenn Close, Dakola Fanning and Holly Hunter and the acting is excellent

Each story is short, to the point, and inconclusive. They also all have an aura of sadness and loss. Yes, the technical aspects of this film are good and the concept is interesting. But, frankly, I don't like short stories. Even in my reading experiences I usually go for a long, well developed work. Some of the characters in one story do appear in a minor role in another. But this just seems like a trick for device.

All the stories have emotional impact but frankly I found them depressing. Therefore, I can't recommend this to anyone but the most dedicated film buff.

What a great, stunning, emotional movie! These nine vignettes, each about 12 minutes long, feature very different women from all walks of life, each of them who could be said is stuck in some kind of emotional rut - some more deep than others, some of which they have control of and some they don't. We start out with Sandra in LA County Jail who is trying her best but whose emotions are right at the surface and a seemingly minor incident spells disaster for her. Then Diana played exquisitely by the fabulous Robin Wright Penn who runs into her old love, Damian, in the supermarket years after their relationship has ended; the one gesture by Damian just broke my heart. Other standouts include Sissy Spacek as the wife of a disabled man (Deadwood's Ian McShane) who shows up in two of the vignettes and Amy Brenneman as he ex-wife of a man whose wife has just committed suicide. All the stories are so vivid, so intense that I am glad I saw it on DVD instead of in a theater as I found I was forced to take a break in the middle. There were several that moved me to tears. This is really great film making and absolutely highly recommended.

Considering the great reviews this film has garnered, and in light of featuring an excellent cast of actresses, I was expecting something memorable. For me, it was a huge waste of time. The "stories" are snippets of a seemingly larger whole that are not explained; the audience is left to their imagination.
Also, only two of the stories carry over in the film while the others leave you bewildered. The story featuring Holly Hunter was especially pointless; I've seen better marital feuds on sitcoms.
Most annoying is the writing: it is mediocre, at best; the dialogue was almost boring, even if it was well-delivered. Finally, the stories are all depressing, most of the characters are crying and bereft, and you're left feeling very dissastified because they end abruptly. A better choice if you like this genre, is "If These Walls Could Talk".

I am not a fan of this kind of movie so I did not have high expectations except as to the quality of the cast. I was not disappointed in either regard. The stories of the individual women--snippets of their lives--were unrelentingly depressing, presenting moments of insight into some of the less admirable qualities of their personalities or the darker side of their histories. The acting was fine but could only do so much with a set of often rather incomprehensible vignettes that leave you feeling like you need a good laugh.

What a remarkable oversight we've got here! Imagine if somebody walked up to you and said, "Hey, I just saw this incredible movie! It's about 9 different women, each with their own short story that lasts about 10 minutes. Oh, and each story is told in a single camera shot."

The premise alone was enough for me to check out NINE LIVES, a captivating collection of short dramas with an even more impressive cast. But as neat a concept as this film is, I was instantly hooked from the opening footsteps and expressions of an incarcerated mother. Think of a movie shot very similar to Hitchock's ROPE, except that instead of convenient reel changes after 10 minutes, writer-director Rodrigo Garcia utilitzes incredible techniques and transitions. Garcia has worked on various HBO series, most notably IN TREATMENT. In that show, Garcia again used a similar real-time format to shoot the 30-minute therapy sessions. Like him or not, Garcia has mastered photography and pacing.

The casting is perfect. Each story focuses on a woman struggling with various aspoects of her life. They could be as simple as a mother and daughter having a picnic at a graveyard, or as complicated as woman attending the funeral with a former lover. Then again, those examples are only simple at the outset. You have no idea how each story is going to play out; they remain powerful even after repeat viewings. My personal favorite (and probably most people's, too) is Diana's.

Robin Wright Penn and Jason Isaacs should've won Oscars for their uniterrupted, unedited work. Diana is a pregnant mother just grocery shopping, when she unexpectedly encounters Damian, her former lover. Watching these two actors convey their buried feelings is an absolute joy. Anyone can perform a single emotion, but Isaacs and Wright Penn can deliver multiple subtleties that command encores. This particular segment is some of the finest acting you'll ever see, and I encourage any drama professor to take a good look at it.

I think Diana's story is my favorite because I've experienced some of those conflicts, myself. But the true genius of NINE LIVES is that it will reach audiences on various levels. Any story compilation like this is going to by its very construction. To me, it is both the greatest strength and weakness of Rodrigo Garcia's otherwise-perfect film. Frankly, one or two stories just didn't do much for me. I knew I was watching terrific performances and crafty camerawork, but I didn't know what to take from a couple of Garcia's tales. It's frustrating to watch a 10-minute long scene, with no reprieve - if you're not hooked, you'll just have to wait until Garcia's gone onto the next chapter.

But my confusion could also be a strength to Rodrigo Garcia's genius. Every one of the NINE LIVES is unique and compelling in their own way. Each moviegoer will have his/her own way of relating to the diverse lot of protagonists. Even if your experience isn't the same as mine, NINE LIVES will reach you in ways you've never imagined.

This is not a coherent novelistic film with a linear story line, but a kind of intersection of lives through people who have some contact. The acting is absolutely wonderful and believable, bringing raw emotion in the way that only film can. It is like a long tapas meal with multiple friends dropping by to share, enjoyable yet sometimes disagreeable. There are so many allusions unexplained, which the viewer can try to connect - it just begs for reviewing. I loved every minute of it and felt deeply moved by the realism. I also barely noticed the technique of a continuous shot for each segment, which means it succeeds unobtrusively.

Warmly recommended.

I love short stories. I read a lot of them and write a few as well. The beauty of a short story lies in its ability to connect with the reader in such a raw manner. There are hardly buildups or character definitions. The length of a short story does not allow this luxury. The author should be able to strike that chord with the reader in those brief pages. And there in lies, both the beauty and the challenge of a good short story.

You must be wondering why I am talking about short stories in a movie review. Well, this movie is just that. A collection of nine vignettes portraying women of different age, backgrounds and lifestyle. As the saying goes "the apple does not fall far from the tree". Rodrigo Garcia is the son of the legendary Colombia writer Gabriel Garcia Márquez (Am a huge fan). Marquez is an absolute genius when it comes to the portrayal of human emotions. Rodrigo Garcia is just as accomplished. But film is his chosen medium of expression.

The movie boasts of an incredible cast of actors including Robin Wright-Penn, Holly Hunter, Glenn Close, Dakota Fanning and more. Each of them appear in a vignette which captures a slice of their life. In each of those short 10-15 minutes Rodrigo Garcia manages to say more than what most movies do in their entire length.

The 'nine lives' portrayed in it share a beautiful undertone of poignancy. It is that what makes us feel connected with each of these characters.

My favorite one among these was the one with Robin Wright-Penn. Ms Penn is one of those actresses who make acting seem so easy (She has one of the best smiles ever). There never a hint of strain or rehearsal.

The clip shows Ms Penn, a married and pregnant woman, running into her ex-lover at a grocery store (Reminded me of the Dan Fogelberg song "Same Auld Lang Syne"). The subtle nature in which Ms Penn portrays a woman trying to hold back a flood of emotions and trying to act coy, is outstanding. She uses all her elements to convey the turmoil which the character is going through. Whether it is the quickly diverted glance or the measured sentences, it leaves us with a heavy heart.

Rest of the 'lives' range from a teenage girl who is the bridge between her at loggerheads parents, to the woman who is petrified of her operation. These vignettes (I love this word) capture the different shades of a woman in a manner which very few have.

I had highs hopes for this movie, and a couple of the viginettes I loved. The 10 minutes with Robin Wright-Penn....now that was worth renting this movie. She portrayed a place perhaps a lot of women have been...going on with your life and *bam* you see an old love and it's all turned inside out and it is like no more than 5 minutes have passed since your old life.

I also loved the last 10 minutes with Glenn Close. Very sad and profound. I cried.

The other ones were only from ok...to so-so to a couple pointless.

You will enjoy it more or less...