The Nines

[KLAXXON]

The Nines consists of three inter-linked stories, each featuring the same actors in different —and sometimes overlapping— roles.

“The Prisoner” tells the story of a troubled television star (Ryan Reynolds) who finds himself under house arrest, with his chipper publicist (Melissa McCarthy) and disillusioned next-door neighbor (Hope Davis) providing his only links to the outside world.
Mysterious events lead him to question whether one or both women are deceiving him about the nature of his incarceration.

“Reality Television” is a half-hour episode of “Behind the Screen,” a Project Greenlight-style documentary series tracking the process of creating a network television drama. Having shot the pilot, creator/showrunner Gavin Taylor (also Ryan Reynolds) faces post-production with the help of his best friend (and lead actress) Melissa McCarthy and development VP Susan Howard (Hope Davis).

“Knowing” finds an acclaimed videogame designer (also Ryan Reynolds) and his wife (Melissa McCarthy) facing car trouble deep in the woods. Their daughter (Elle Fanning) uncovers information which leads to a difficult and irrevocable choice.

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 is the question: “How does it all add up?”






There are plenty of surprises in this amusing Donnie Darko-ish metaphysical thriller, but watching Van Wilder and Blade: Trinity star Ryan Reynolds flex some previously hidden acting chops is the main one.

Reynolds plays three characters who seem to exist in the same space-time continuum - a jilted actor under house arrest, a gay screenwriter pitching his big idea on a reality-TV show, and a video-game designer stranded in the woods with his wife and child. All are afflicted by feelings of cosmic interconnectedness, and the number nine haunts them.

It sounds suspiciously like that gimmicky script Donald Kaufman was peddling in Adaptation, but writer-director John August keeps us guessing, bouncing the three stories off each other wittily and sometimes just the tiniest bit frighteningly.

Hope Davis and Melissa McCarthy get triple roles too, and the latter is terrific, particularly as a stalker-ish minder in the first section.

This kind of knowing hokum may not be to everyone's taste, but I was gripped and intrigued.








A TV actor (Ryan Reynolds) goes on a bender before crashing his car after smoking crack with a hooker. Under house arrest, he hears noises and sees hallucinations that suggest a haunting. However, the truth is much stranger, and a portal to other dimensions is opened…





What’s going on? Why are we here? We’ve all thought these things, many of us while watching McG’s big-screen adaptation of Charlie’s Angels. But who would ever have thought that the co-writer of that big-budget blunderbuss could craft something as intelligent as The Nines, a film that blends edgy indie realism with bizarre metaphysical surrealism? The result plays like Todd Solondz’s take on The Matrix, providing much needed provocation and genuine food for thought.

The Nines owes much to screenwriter-turned-director John August’s debut screenplay, Go, a sort of rave-generation Pulp Fiction. The Nines is split into three too, starting with The Prisoner, in which Ryan Reynolds plays a jumped-up TV star; then Reality Television, in which he plays a waspish, prissy TV producer; and finally Knowing, which may or not be the show that’s being discussed so often in the mid-section. It would be unfair to reveal how August makes the connection, but suffice it to say that Reynolds’ characters form part of an unexpected grand design.
Reynolds pulls off the various incarnations surprisingly well. Gary, the bratty, indulgent TV star, suggests a certain fearlessness, but the moody Gavin is much more of a stretch. Based on August’s own experiences in TV development, this section ditches the amiable lunacy of the first in favour of something darker. And in the final part, Reynolds pulls it all together as the beatific Gabriel, a computer programmer saved by an intervention that pulls the rug from under everyone.

The Nines has been compared, not always favourably, to the work of Charlie Kaufman, although August’s film is arguably more human. But the film’s quiet power comes from its mood. August does a tidy job of making dream-logic mainstream, turning visual rhymes and echoes into an entertaining and accessible metaphysical (sort of) thriller. Special mention must go to co-stars Hope Davis and Melissa McCarthy, who similarly reappear in new guises as Gary/Gavin/Gabriel makes his spiritual journey.

All of which makes The Nines sound like some kind of terrible Hollywood vanity project. It isn’t. Flawed it may be, but August’s film is one of the most fascinating and potentially infuriating of the year. Love it or hate it, it’s not there to be ignored.



An intriguing post-modern take on TV, film and gaming culture, with a revelatory performance from the former Van Wilder.












Ryan Reynolds ...  Gary / Gavin / Gabriel
Melissa McCarthy ...  Margaret / Melissa / Mary
Hope Davis ...  Sarah / Susan / Sierra
Elle Fanning ...  Noelle
David Denman ...  Parole Officer / Agitated Man
Octavia Spencer ...  Streetwalker
Ben Falcone ...  Himself
Dahlia Salem ...  Herself
John Gatins ...  Himself
Andy Fielder ...  Moderator
Jodi Sellards ...  Piano Player
Greg Baine ...  Delivery Boy
Martin Yu ...  Focus Group Participant #1
Gregg Naaman ...  Focus Group Participant #2
Lorene Scafaria ...  Game Night Guest




IMDB



Download Torrent