NINES, THE: DVD

SYNOPSIS:
Three short films that fit together in different, often overlapping ways to form a single story about Hollywood reality, author and character, actor and role, and who is creator and who creation.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
I hate to slip in a spoiler in so early in my review, but this film tells us that koalas are telepathic and control the weather ... never mind, there is plenty more to enjoy in Nines, a zany and entertaining movie with a unique touch. It defies categorisation, which I love, and defies logic, which is very European. But it's also clever, funny and compelling.

The three stars are outstanding; Ryan Reynolds as the guy at the centre of the three stories, actor writer and video game designer. Melissa McCarthy as the zesty life force of a character (in all three stories) and Hope Davis as the subversive, dangerous catalyst for damage. Although the film is seemingly made up of three short stories, it gradually embraces its disparate parts into a puzzling whole.

The film plays with levels of reality and unreality, tossing us crumbs of information that don't fit together with the ease of a Hollywood studio movie but engage our intellect and our emotions, too.

Published October 9, 2008