Nine Lives

Critics Consensus

Nine Lives is bolstered by a strong cast and features many insightful glimpses into the lives of women.

75%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 85

67%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 21,722

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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 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.
  • Rating:
    R (for language, brief sexual content and some disturbing images)
  • Genre:
    Drama
  • Directed By:
    Rodrigo García
  • Written By:
    Rodrigo García
  • In Theaters:
     wide
  • On Disc/Streaming:
  • Box Office:
    $148,181
  • Runtime:
  • Studio:
    Magnolia Pictures

Cast

Glenn Close
as Maggie
Robin Wright
as Diana
Holly Hunter
as Sonia
Sissy Spacek
as Ruth
Kathy Baker
as Camille
Amy Brenneman
as Lorna
Elpidia Carrillo
as Sandra
Dakota Fanning
as Maria
Lisa Gay Hamilton
as Holly
Molly Parker
as Lisa
Mary Kay Place
as Dr. Alma Wyatt
Amanda Seyfried
as Samantha
Stephen Dillane
as Martin
William Fichtner
as Andrew
Jason Isaacs
as Damian
Joe Mantegna
as Richard
Ian McShane
as Larry
Sydney Tamiia Poitier
as Vanessa
Aidan Quinn
as Henry
Miguel Sandoval
as Dep. Sheriff Ron
Mary Pat Dowhy
as Nicole
Andy Umberger
as Second Male Guard
Chelsea Rendon
as Sandra's Daughter
Lawrence Pressman
as Roman
Pat Musick
as Mourner/Night Manager
Rebecca Tilney
as Rebecca
Andrew Borba
as Paul
Aomawa Baker
as Female Guard
Daniel Edward Mora
as Receptionist
Amy Lippens
as Nurse
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Critic Reviews for Nine Lives

All Critics (85) | Top Critics (26) | Fresh (64) | Rotten (21)

  • Each woman has to turn herself inside out in continuous time. It has the demands of theatre and the intimacy of cinema.

    June 6, 2008 | Full Review…

    Paul Byrnes

    Sydney Morning Herald
    Top Critic

  • The stories are sketches, often without resolution, and while individual segments succeed admirably, taken together the portraits are a fitful match.

    October 1, 2007 | Rating: B- | Full Review…

    David Germain

    Associated Press
    Top Critic

  • 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.

    December 31, 2005 | Full Review…

    Nathan Rabin

    AV Club
    Top Critic

  • Some parts are stronger than others, but as a fleshed-out artistic vision, Nine Lives works remarkably well.

    December 31, 2005 | Rating: B+

    Eleanor Ringel Cater

    Atlanta Journal-Constitution
    Top Critic

  • 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.

    December 2, 2005 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

    Roger Moore

    Orlando Sentinel
    Top Critic

  • [Garcia] leaves you thinking deeply about these people. And leaves you wanting more.

    November 4, 2005 | Rating: 3.5/4

    Carrie Rickey

    Philadelphia Inquirer
    Top Critic
View All Critic Reviews (85)

Audience Reviews for Nine Lives

  • Dec 14, 2010
    The concept is not original at all, that's probably why it has such a low average. If you've seen Crash and Magnolia and you liked it, than I don't see why you wouldn't like this one. Some good solid acting and 'drama for your mama'.
    Saskia D Super Reviewer
  • Sep 25, 2007
    Another really strong Rodrigo Garcia movie that explores the complexity of women.
    Sunil J Super Reviewer
  • Jul 13, 2007
    i'm a huge, huge fan of multiple storyline, vignette movies, and some of them have been executed really well - crash, paris je t'aime, amores perros (or anything alejandro gonzalez inarritu, to tell you the truth.). and so it's not that i don't like this style of moviemaking. it's just that this particular film's ideas were so half-baked, so underdeveloped, so cliche. i mean, the one story with the deaf guy and lorna was perhaps the only original one that truly captured me. some were well-acted but the story was very very poor. and the so-called "connections" are a joke. it's like...geographical proximity is the only thing they have in common. i like to have a parallel drawn between the stories, not some, "oh! i vaguely recognize this character. oh yes, i remember, from the last story! yay!" i mean, i get it, it's about 9 women's lives and their difficulties dealing with loss or love or whatever. it wasn't a bad idea for a movie and garcia did admirably under the circumstances but he really should've thought this through more.
    Jennifer X Super Reviewer
  • May 25, 2007
    Women are amazing. lol I liked this more than I thought I would. It's 9 short, approx. 10 min films about moments in the lives of 9 women. Some are better than others. The ones that stood out to me: Robin Right (sp?) Penn running into a former lover at a supermarket, Sissy Spasek contimplating an affair, Lisa Gay Hamilton working up the nerve to confront her father on his child abuse. Also, there's a quietly sad Holly Hunter trapped in a relationship with a jerk, Amy Brenerman attending her ex husband's wife's funeral, and Kathy Baker about to have a mysectomy. (obviously sp.) The three least compelling: Glen Close and Dakota Fanning visiting a cemetary, some actress at prison, and the dumb girl from Mean Girls talking to her parents. They all add to the film, but they were the least interesting for me. Also, all films are one continuous shot.
    Joey N Super Reviewer
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