9 Songs (2004)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Michael Winterbottom

Writer:

Michael Winterbottom (writer)

Release Date:

20 January 2005 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

2 Lovers. 1 Year.

Plot:

In London, England, love blooms between an American college student, named Lisa, and a British glaciologist, named Matt, where over the next few months in between attending rock concerts, the two lovers have intense sexual encounters.

Plot Keywords:

Rock Concert | Love | London England | Passion | Leg Spreading

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Kieran O'Brien	...	Matt
Margo Stilley	...	Lisa
Huw Bunford	...	Himself (Super Furry Animals)
Cian Ciaran	...	Himself (Super Furry Animals)
The Dandy Warhols	...	Themselves
Elbow	...	Themselves
Franz Ferdinand	...	Themselves
Bobby Gillespie	...	Himself (Primal Scream)
Bob Hardy	...	Himself (Franz Ferdinand)
Dafydd Ieuan	...	Himself (Super Furry Animals)
Alex Kapranos	...	Himself (Franz Ferdinand)
Mani	...	Himself (Primal Scream)
Nick McCarthy	...	Himself (Franz Ferdinand)
Michael Nyman	...	Himself
Guto Pryce	...	Himself (Super Furry Animals)

Also Known As:

Ice (UK) (working title)
Nine Songs (UK) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

71 min | USA:67 min (DVD version)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-18 | Canada:R (British Columbia/Ontario) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | Mexico:D | Australia:X (South Australia) (original rating) | Singapore:(Banned) | Argentina:18 | Taiwan:R-18 | France:-16 (edited version) | Italy:VM18 | Australia:R (re-rating on appeal) | France:-18 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Iceland:16 | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-18 | Switzerland:18 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:Not Rated | New Zealand:R18 | Brazil:18 | Spain:18 | Portugal:M/18

Filming Locations:

Brixton Academy - 211 Stockwell Road, Brixton, London, England, UK

Company:

Revolution Films

Trivia:

According to the "Variety" review, the transfer of the film, which was shot in DV, was done by photographing a digital projection of the movie on a white wall, to create a negative from which prints for release could be made.

Goofs:

Continuity: Cutaways during several different band performances, such as close up of backup guitarists, are from different parts of the shows and often don't match wide shots of the band or shots of the singers.

Quotes:

Lisa: Those glasses look so ugly.
Matt: I'm trying to look ugly.
Lisa: They look stupid.
Matt: I'm trying to look stupid.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Indie Sex: Extremes (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Sola

Rock and Roll

When I saw Scorsese's "Last Waltz," I thought that I would never again see a concert film as true. And I haven't, until now.

The Band were the last popular musicians to tell stories, have nearly all those stories be in the third person and tell them without irony. To do this is impossible today, or at least non- commercial. Scorsese is a flawed filmmaker, his flaw being that he is overly invested in character-driven storytelling. The two: Band and Marty, were a perfect mix: cinematic rock. Pure, without that nightmare stew of MTV videos.

Now along comes Winterbottom. Nearly all viewers will be unable to accept a movie with sex in it as anything but a movie about sex. Shame on them. Confront it folks. That's his point: why is it so difficult to accept the difference?

But the hangups of the viewing public are less interesting to me than the way he constructed this experiment. It is a rock concert (with a Nyman interlude). Nine songs, with us participating in the songs themselves, participating in the going to the concerts to listen to the songs, and participating in the experience that the songs are about: namely obsessive sex. And also, remembering (or even inventing the memory of) the sex, drugs and rock and roll we've seen. This latter is done by our hero in Antarctica. He serves as narrator, by the way.

Thankfully, this intense sex avoids the theatrics of "Damage," and works to be as genuine as possible emotionally.

Is it a good movie? Could it change your life? Will it change cinema forever?

Probably yes.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.