Nine Lives is one of those rare films that fascinates you on several levels yet leaves you frustrated because you are wanting more. Nine Lives is the best film from 2005 that you probably never saw or even heard of. It boasts what is likely to be the greatest ensemble of actresses ever assembled on film - including Kathy Baker, Amy Brenneman, Elpidia Carrillo, Glenn Close, Dakota Fanning, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Holly Hunter, Mary Kay Place, Sissy Spacek, and Robin Wright Penn.
Directed with precision by Rodrigo Garcia (who also directed the equally estrogenic Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her), Nine Lives portrays nine different women at a crisis point in their lives in nine separate but occasionally interlocking 10 to 14 minute continuously single-shot vignettes. A deliberate choice is made to withhold several key facts regarding each characters’ past which leave it up to the audience to fill in certain blanks.
Sandra (Elpidia Carillo from The Border, Salvador, and Predator) is in prison for an unknown crime. She has gained the reputation of being somewhat of a “princess” which in prison is not a good thing. Her daughter is the most important thing in her life and her inability to communicate with her during a visit leads to the first of several emotional breaking points the women in Nine Lives suffer through.
In the best and most haunting of the nine stories, a pregnant and married Diana ( Robin Wright Penn) unexpectedly runs into her old boyfriend Damian (Jason Issacs), who also is married, at a grocery store which opens up the emotional floodgates for both. An angry and emotionally unstable Holly (Hamilton) arrives at her estranged father’s home to confront him about an unknown abuse. From her emotional violence it would seem to be a childhood molestation she suffered at his hands.
Sonia (Hunter) is involved in a teniously stormy relationship with her boyfriend (a scathing Stephen Dillane) who unloads on her in front of their closest friends. Samantha (a wonderful Amanda Seyfreid) is a teenager caught in the middle between her self-absorbed, wheelchair bound father (Deadwood’s Ian Mc Shane) and her despairing, caretaker mother Ruth (Spacek). While both encourage her to leave home and pursue her own life they both cling to her like children, which puts Sam in the ironic and stressful position of being “parent” to her parents. Lorna (Brenneman) attends the funeral of her ex-husband’s (an amazing William Fichtner) wife, who committed suicide. Lorna learns that not only are many blaming her for the suicide but that she and her ex-husband still have deep, unresolved feelings for each other.
Ruth (Spacek), who is one of several characters intertwined with another’s story, is on the verge of having an affair with Henry (Aidan Quinn) when she accidentally is a witness to an incident that causes her to rethink what she is doing. Camille (Baker) arrives at the hospital with her loving, patient husband (Joe Mantegna) to undergo a mastectomy. She is scared of not being in control of her life and lashes out at her husband. And in the final story, Maggie (Close) and her daughter Maria (Fanning) make their annual trip to a graveyard to visit an unknown family member.
Some of the stories are more involving than others given the limitations of the short story genre but the acting by all, male and female is uniformly dynamic and wrenching. Of the women, Robin Wright Penn is the standout. We literally see her character’s carefully structured life unravel as she pushes her cart and her soul around in circles upon seeing her former lover. It’s not unique to have public places like department stores and shopping centers represent repression and banality (see One Hour Photo and The Good Girl) but in this segment of Nine Lives the grocery store becomes a bittersweet graveyard for regret and simmering sexual attraction. This story is by far the most emotionally violent of the nine. The continuous take technique on display in the film, shot masterfully by Xavier Perez Grobet, is at its most effective here as it literally takes you with her and her impending breakdown.
There would seem to be two clear themes running through the stories (both of which are echoed by several characters) “I’m tired” and “We’re all connected.” The “connection” aspect is to be expected in an interlocking ensemble piece like this. Some of the connections do not feel right and some are downright confusing and awkward (Sandra’s fate crossing with Ruth’s is too convenient and unexplained.) Some do work. It is here where the frustration of wanting more footage is painfully clear. It would’ve been fascinating to have had Garcia go full-blown Altman (think Nashville or Short Cuts) or PT Anderson (think Boogie Nights or Magnolia) and make the film more expansive and epic thus fleshing out more of the characters, their respective fates, and the universal themes at play here. But then again it might have changed the delicate intimacy the film contains. The continuous take aspect of each story lends an uncomfortable intimacy that is intoxicating and hard to turn away from.
The real theme at play here is exhaustion. All the women are tired. All nine are caught in a crucial turning point of their lives where it can go either way. That is the genius of the stories here. Those turning points in one’s life are emotionally and physically draining no matter whether you survive them or not. Very seldom have you seen characters on the edge almost hanging out past it with nothing and no one to catch them. It is one of the ultimate fears in one’s life be it male or female; to be isolated and alone at a time of crisis. Sometimes we have to make it up as we go along and sometimes a chance encounter or moment changes it all.
Unfortunately the one extra you would think would be included here, a running commentary with Garcia as well as selected cast members, is not included. There is however a fascinating one-hour-15 minutes Q and A with Garcia as well as Brenneman, Baker, Hamilton, and Mantegna. There is a great deal of information given about the shooting as well as the inauspicious origins of the film. It will probably be of greater interest to aspiring actors/directors then to the common viewer but it is the next best thing to a commentary. There are also four brief featurettes regarding the film; The Women of Nine Lives, Sonia: Blocking a Scene, Working with One Continuous Take, and Maggie: A Day at The Cemetery. Unfortunately, Robin Wright Penn is absent from the extras. Considering the fact that she has arguably the most memorable character of the film, you would think that she would pop up somewhere and talk about her experience making the film.
It would be easy to dismiss the film from afar as a “chick flick.” It is anything but. The male characters, while not as predominant as the females, are just as compelling and fascinating and present the women they compliment with a personality template that, if you pay close enough attention, can tell you a great deal about them without dialogue or back story. Even though Garcia wrote the screenplay, in addition to his directing duties, the acting is so magnificent and seamless that it feels as if the cast improvised much of the dialogue.
Nine Lives is unlike any film you’ve seen both in style and substance. Few films can make you feel like you’re watching crucial snapshots of a human being’s life. Nine Lives does just that. After a poor and limited theatrical release, now is the perfect time to discover this wonderful buried treasure. You’re likely to feel as I did as the end credits rise; you wish it were longer.
Nine Lives is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD's database for more information.
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