I saw the premiere in NYC tonight. Ryan Reynolds and one of the producers (Bruce Cohen) spoke beforehand.
I thought this film was first-rate. It quite bent my mind. Often after seeing a film that affects me I can't get up from my seat (like most people do) when the credits roll, or even when the credits end (like everyone else does) because I need to process what I have just seen, plus it's hard to bring my self back to reality when a film has taken me to a profound place, like this one did.
What I noticed after this film was that practically the whole theater sat in pensive silence until the end of the credits, something I think I've never seen. For me it was stunned silence.
I can't see The Nines playing in the big Multiplexes, but no bother. Most of the best films don't.
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Spoilers start here.
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I think I understand about 75% of the script, the rest I figure is ambiguous or inscrutable. Here are my takes. I'd love to hear other's:
I thought this film was first-rate. It quite bent my mind. Often after seeing a film that affects me I can't get up from my seat (like most people do) when the credits roll, or even when the credits end (like everyone else does) because I need to process what I have just seen, plus it's hard to bring my self back to reality when a film has taken me to a profound place, like this one did.
What I noticed after this film was that practically the whole theater sat in pensive silence until the end of the credits, something I think I've never seen. For me it was stunned silence.
I can't see The Nines playing in the big Multiplexes, but no bother. Most of the best films don't.
____________________
Spoilers start here.
____________________
I think I understand about 75% of the script, the rest I figure is ambiguous or inscrutable. Here are my takes. I'd love to hear other's:
- He is a god (i.e., a "Nine"), not The God, but one of many. For 4,000 years he has been creating Universes for his amusement. He is addicted to doing this. - In each Universe he has a different persona. At some point, he eliminates the Universe and starts another one. (Why doesn't he know Who He Is in each incarnation?) - The 3 recurring characters (Hope Davis, the guy who plays the policeman, and the woman who plays the prostitute) are from his cosmic "world." They are trying to bring him out of his addiction and get him to return "Home," i.e., back to being a celestial being without a body. - I'm not sure of the Melissa McCarthy character(s). She is clearly a human (a Seven) and is very attached to him. She is trying to keep him on earth because she enjoys, loves, needs him. There is a battle between her and the Hope Davis character(s) over keeping him human versus spectral. I think this is why several times Hope tells him "We had to get you away from her," because she (McCarthy) is the embodiment of his addiction to being human.