Nine Lives (2005)
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 84
Fresh: 63 | Rotten: 21
Nine Lives is bolstered by a strong cast and features many insightful glimpses into the lives of women.
Average Rating: 7.3/10
Critic Reviews: 24
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 4
Nine Lives is bolstered by a strong cast and features many insightful glimpses into the lives of women.
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Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 21,368
Movie Info
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
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Cast
-
Kathy Baker
Camille -
Amy Brenneman
Lorna -
Elpidia Carrillo
Sandra -
Glenn Close
Maggie -
Stephen Dillane
Martin -
Dakota Fanning
Maria -
William Fichtner
Andrew -
Lisa Gay Hamilton
Holly -
Holly Hunter
Sonia -
Jason Isaacs
Damian -
Joe Mantegna
Richard -
Ian McShane
Larry -
Molly Parker
Lisa -
Mary Kay Place
Alma -
Sydney Tamiia Poitier
Vanessa -
Aidan Quinn
Henry -
Miguel Sandoval
Ron -
Amanda Seyfried
Samantha -
Sissy Spacek
Ruth -
Robin Wright
Diana
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All Critics (85) | Top Critics (25) | Fresh (63) | Rotten (21) | DVD (11)
The stories are sketches, often without resolution, and while individual segments succeed admirably, taken together the portraits are a fitful match.
Some parts are stronger than others, but as a fleshed-out artistic vision, Nine Lives works remarkably well.
Nine Lives is an elegant film of quick, tour-de-force acting turns, a simple actor's gesture that tells you more than four pages of dialogue, a movie that demands concentration but that rewards the viewer willing to pay attention.
[Garcia] leaves you thinking deeply about these people. And leaves you wanting more.
Composed of nine short films, each starring some of the best female actors working, though many of them aren't working enough.
The moments that Garcia has chosen to observe are unforgettable, the women -- played by an ensemble of actresses at the top of their respective games -- indelible.
Nine Lives, zero truth
Each woman has to turn herself inside out in continuous time. It has the demands of theatre and the intimacy of cinema.
Loss is the common thread that binds the women in these nine snapshots that involve us in their intricate lives. Some stories work beautifully, while others are dull and hardly capture our interest
In the end, all of the pieces in Nine Lives fit together perfectly. If one story doesn't quite resonate for you, the next one likely will in this small but beautiful film.
Kathy Baker deserves and Oscar nomination for juggling so many different feelings during her slow, reluctant acquiescence to the drugs that may likely save her life.
Nine Lives had me tense, engaged, sometimes disgusted, sometimes moved, and always interested. Garcia is an ingenious and eloquent storyteller.
A truly amazing film.
It's as if we're randomly eavesdropping on the private concerns of one particular neighborhood ... a neighborhood that sure has its fair share of heartache.
Nine Lives isn't a master work, but it's still a fascinating piece of filmmaking.
...a remarkably powerful little film.
You won't find ensemble acting much better or writing more incisive than that in Nine Lives ...
Certain characters and their particular pains become so engrossing in their 10-minute bits that it's sad to see them go.
What saves Nine Lives is a first-rate cast, which includes Oscar-winning actresses Sissy Spacek and Holly Hunter.
It's unclear why Garcia continues to choose to limit himself to these diluted portraits, rather than the layered and textured worlds that his writing and directing hint at.
If only every women's movie had Nine Lives' fire, intelligence, and conviction, they wouldn't have such a shaky reputation in the first place.
Just as we're growing fond of someone, the vignette ends and we're on to the next woman. It's nine orphan scenes desperately in need of movies to take them home.
Each vignette is tantalizing but so short as to be stillborn, leaving the impression of an acting class exercise.
... the first third of the film is marred by a tendency to be morbidly serious and overly dramatic.
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