This movie looked intriguing from the start. I don’t believe it got a lot of coverage, not even a wide release in theater. However, I’ll have to admit right here that I’m a fan of Ryan Reynolds, I don’t know why… I would consider him a pretty good actor, he plays comedy fine but he really proved he could do well in other genre like Amityville and Blade Trinity. You might of lost all hope already considering theses weren’t great movies.
But this is about The Nines, and how strange this movie was. The director wanted us to see his movie so much that he even admitted that he didn’t mind that people “pirate” his movie, as long as they see it [TorrentFreak]. None the less, it’s copyrighted to the studios, so him saying that, doesn’t make it legal to take off the Web. Now back to what I will call as an attempt to review the movie.
It’s complex to explain, but the movie evolves in three parts where Ryan Reynolds plays the central character. Each is very different and has to live through their own deal of trouble in the world. At one point, he notices the number “nine” appearing everywhere (he doesn’t go crazy like in Number 23), but he understands there is a greater meaning to the presence of this number, and someone is trying to tell him to remember something. By three parts I literally mean that he is playing the role of three different characters that evolve in worlds that are interconnected. In the first act he is an actor on the down slope with incendiary tendencies and a thing for new drugs.
The official synopsis is much more coherant and might actually make you want to watch this movie.
John August, the acclaimed screenwriter of GO, BIG FISH, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and THE CORPSE BRIDE, makes his directorial debut with THE NINES, an intricately constructed intriguing blur of reality, virtual reality and metaphysical fantasy. The film unfolds in three parts, featuring the same actors in different (and in some ways overlapping) incarnations.
Ryan Reynolds stars with Melissa McCarthy, Hope Davis and Elle Fanning as:
Gary (Reynolds) – a TV actor who finds himself under house arrest after one too many benders. He is tended to by an impossibly chipper publicist (McCarthy) and a sexually tempting new mother next door ( Davis ).
Gavin (Reynolds), a show-runner who is the subject of a reality TV show about the thorny process of creating a network series (not dissimilar to August himself). His show stars his (and August’s) best friend, the actress Melissa McCarthy, much to the chagrin of the network’s development executive ( Davis ). He also happens to own the house where Gary is imprisoned (John August’s actual home).
Gabriel (Reynolds) – a successful video game designer who runs into car trouble with his wife (McCarthy) and daughter (Fanning) in the woods and then into even greater trouble when he seeks help from an attractive hitchhiker (Davis).
Together, the three stories form a single narrative that explores the relationships between author and character, actor and role, creator and creation. Alternately funny and unsettling, The Nines is like a riddle where the answer may just lead to another question.
The DVD seems to be available and if you can rent it somehow I would strongly recommand seeing this movie. You could also buy it but it’s not the kind of movie you want to see over and over. Unless you’re looking for the meaning of life and whether or not we’re masters of our destiny. Are you a 7 or a 9?