Nine Lives

This movie contains nine small movies, each done in one take. The situations are very ordinary and although this idea is splendid, the unfolding of most of the stories are boring to watch as there is little or no point to them. There simply is too little progression or development in these short-stories and we never get really involved. Some of the stories are connected but never in a way that adds anything to a meaning. It is only coincidental. Mediocre is the word I find most suitable to describe this movie which means that I can't recommend it. If you like to see movies that deals with everyday life then I would recommend the movies done by Mike Leigh, who is dedicated to description of everyday life, to you (especially "life is sweet"). Regards Simon Ps. When you read reviews that gives max score check to see if the user has made more than one review. If not consider the possibility of a lobbyist. If you agree consider putting this post scriptum at the bottom at your own reviews.

NINE LIVES is a must see film for any student taking up Acting as a career because Mr. Garcia has created stories and characters which jump off the screen. Each story, vignette, portrays a different character with intensity and extreme intelligence, and when the frame is complete, you just want more. There are so many tremendous performances in NINE LIVES that to try to pick out one would be impossible. You just have to see the film to relish the acting, writing, directing and stories to appreciate what Mr. Garcia has accomplished in this film. NINE LIVES and the cast, stories and writing, makes an audience think about each character and his/her story and you want to know more about them in their journey to completion of their lives. Thank you Mr. Garcia for bringing this important film and the NINE LIVES to the screen.

I just saw the movie and right now it feels like one of my top all time favorites. As in up there with Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and 400 Blows and La Dolce Vita. I don't know why ten fragments of stories should have that power. Maybe because the writing is genius? No pandering to conventional standards of entertainment, just a great author mining vein after vein of truth and freeing his brilliant actors to be intensely fearlessly human at every second. This is the movie that Crash wishes it was (and I thought Crash was awesome). No preaching. No "ideas." Just the human heart on display. Amazing that a woman lying in a hospital bed facing a mastectomy got the biggest laughs--because Kathy Baker, speaking Rodrigo Garcia's lines, so completely captured the frustration and helplessness that all of us have felt that all the audience could do was laugh in recognition. Go see this one.

I can't add a whole lot to what everyone else has said about this film. It's a series of vignettes that are loosely related. The acting is very good -- after all they got a whole bunch of Hollywood big guns to sign up. And I think the reason they signed up was because for an actor, this film is a bonanza. They get to play very intense emotions in a very tight space, without any dead dialog or perplexing plot (the plot isn't perplexing because there ain't no plot.) So it's a real treat to watch, but if you're looking for something really profound about life, forget it. About the only lesson here is that women are a force unto themselves, and a lot of the time the best you can do is just stand back. Each of the reviewers seems to have their favorite actors out of the nine, but I give them all a gold star for acting, and that includes the men too. BTW this is not a lighthearted romp -- it starts in a prison and ends in a graveyard. Mostly heavy stuff.

I too saw this film at the Sundance Film Festival and was very, very happy with it. It's simply vignettes of nine women's lives (with intercepting characters and mutual acquaintances), the people in their lives and more importantly the relationships in their lives. They're sad and sometimes not so sad, examples of the walls we build around ourselves in our relationships and how we feel bound to people or stuck in situations that we can't escape. It's very well made, with each women's vignette composed of one long 10-12 minute scene (no cuts). The dialogue is completely natural as are the actor's portrayal's of their characters, and the characters seem so real-life, so believably everyday. I couldn't say which story I enjoyed the most, but Robin Wright Penn and Jason Isaac's scene and relationship was especially poignant for me and I thought, amazingly acted. Overall this movie is great and I would recommend it to anyone who is a student of human nature or just in need of a moving film.