Barnes & Noble

Nine Lives, a collection of vignettes written and directed by Rodrigo García, tells each of its nine brief stories in precisely one camera shot, but this little feat of cinematic legerdemain shouldn’t be confused with gimmickry for its own sake. García makes simple points and illustrates simple truths, and in that context the short, self-contained stories make perfect sense. In one vignette, Kathy Baker portrays a woman about to undergo a mastectomy; this scene portrays the fear of loss while contrasting the impersonality of the hospital with the humanity of the nurses. Then there’s Sissy Spacek as a despairing mother in a dysfunctional household who contemplates a forbidden night in a motel with Aidan Quinn. The film’s closing and most stunning episode follows a mother and daughter (Glenn Close and Dakota Fanning) on a visit to a cemetery. The son of novelist Gabriel García Márquez, the director shares his father’s love for his characters, using seemingly insignificant details to create an episodic narrative in which lives intertwine and people touch each other even though they are strangers. Low-key and unpredictable, Nine Lives will provide intensely satisfying viewing for adventurous viewers eager to savor something out of the ordinary. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Filmmaker Rodrigo García takes an unusual look into the lives of nine different women in this episodic drama. Each of the film's nine sequences has been staged as a single shot, using the Steadicam system to allow the camera to follow the action fluidly and without cuts. In these short episodes (lasting between ten and 14 minutes), Holly (Lisa Gay Hamilton) has a brief moment of reverie while confronting the specters of her past in her old neighborhood. Maggie (Glenn Close) escorts her young daughter Maria (Dakota Fanning) to a cemetery as they visit the graves of their family members. Ruth (Sissy Spacek) is a married woman contemplating an affair while visiting Henry (Aidan Quinn) in his hotel room. Diana (Robin Wright Penn) unexpectedly runs into an old boyfriend, Damian (Jason Isaacs), while shopping for groceries. Camilla (Kathy Baker) is a hospital patient awaiting surgery for cancer. Samantha (Amanda Seyfried) is a teenage girl who helps look after her handicapped father Larry (Ian McShane). Sandra (Elpidia Carrillo) is a female prison inmate who is expecting a visit from her children. Sonia (Holly Hunter) lashes out at her boyfriend Martin (Stephen Dillane) when she finds out he's been cheating on her. And Lorna (Amy Brenneman) has an unexpectedly moving encounter with her ex-husband Andrew (William Fichtner) as she pays her respects to his second wife, who has just passed away. Nine Lives premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 043396134218
• Source: SONY PICTURES
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
• Editions: Subtitled
• Time: 1:52:00
• Sales Rank: 35,435

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