Lazy Boy
10-30-2005, 08:54 PM
9/10
As the son of the famous Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, directo Rodrigo Garcia has, in fact, taken many of his father's soulful, poetic stylings and adapted them to Nine Lives, a multi-character work that brilliantly showcases the acting talent of its female cast. The supporting male players ain't too shabby, either. Like Crash or Short Cuts or Magnolia, this film features several character arcs, albeit via 10-15 minutes for each story. Like the above films, random characters pop into other characters' lives, but to say that there are loose ends would be an understatement. Unlike the coincidences in the other film, they are just that in Nine Lives. No heavy themes (RACISM IS BAD!) are beaten into the skull of the viewer -- instead, each story makes up the body of the whole of life, a minute in time where things may not end as we expect.
Garcia made a similar intertwining film a couple of years ago. It was called Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her, and most of the actors show up in this one. It's hard to single out a superb standout perfomance, because the key word is ensemble, and what these brilliant actors perform is nothing less than making the casual conversation seem deep and meaningful. Some vignettes are better than others; a brilliant back and forth cycle in a supermarket between Robin Wright Penn and Jason Isaacs makes a simple shopping expedition turn into a revival of wounded hurts and past longings. Kathy Baker and Joe Mantegna show up as a husband and wife duo who struggles through a masectomy on her behalf. Sissy Spacek is a house wife having to juggle an extramarital affair with her priorities to her ailing husband (played by Ian McShane). Most haunting of all is the final segment, involving a mother-daughter picnic between Glenn Close and Dakota Fanning. It's final image will stay with you long after you leave the lives of these women.
This is the best film of the year, and I urge everybody to give it a chance and see it.
As the son of the famous Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, directo Rodrigo Garcia has, in fact, taken many of his father's soulful, poetic stylings and adapted them to Nine Lives, a multi-character work that brilliantly showcases the acting talent of its female cast. The supporting male players ain't too shabby, either. Like Crash or Short Cuts or Magnolia, this film features several character arcs, albeit via 10-15 minutes for each story. Like the above films, random characters pop into other characters' lives, but to say that there are loose ends would be an understatement. Unlike the coincidences in the other film, they are just that in Nine Lives. No heavy themes (RACISM IS BAD!) are beaten into the skull of the viewer -- instead, each story makes up the body of the whole of life, a minute in time where things may not end as we expect.
Garcia made a similar intertwining film a couple of years ago. It was called Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her, and most of the actors show up in this one. It's hard to single out a superb standout perfomance, because the key word is ensemble, and what these brilliant actors perform is nothing less than making the casual conversation seem deep and meaningful. Some vignettes are better than others; a brilliant back and forth cycle in a supermarket between Robin Wright Penn and Jason Isaacs makes a simple shopping expedition turn into a revival of wounded hurts and past longings. Kathy Baker and Joe Mantegna show up as a husband and wife duo who struggles through a masectomy on her behalf. Sissy Spacek is a house wife having to juggle an extramarital affair with her priorities to her ailing husband (played by Ian McShane). Most haunting of all is the final segment, involving a mother-daughter picnic between Glenn Close and Dakota Fanning. It's final image will stay with you long after you leave the lives of these women.
This is the best film of the year, and I urge everybody to give it a chance and see it.