By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Rodrigo García
Starring: Holly Hunter | Kathy Baker; | Robin Wright Penn | Sissy Spacek
Country: united_states
Year: 2005
Running time: 115
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420015/combined
Bruce says: “This star-studded vehicle is divided into nine vignettes each named after the woman who is the main character. Each vignette is a stand alone short film but several characters do pop up in other vignettes. Sissy Spacek figures prominently in two of them. Every woman has confrontation of sorts. The women are conflicted with problems of infidelity, parenting, health, love and duty.
“My favorite episode involves a pregnant Robin Wright Penn who is grocery shopping. Turning the aisle she runs into her old love, a man she clearly still loves but has climbed mental mountains to forget. He is equally glad to see her. Both are now married to someone else and he has recently returned to town and lives nearby. Joy, sorrow and temptation abound.
“Sissy Spacek is wonderful in the second of her two episodes. In the first vignette, she is struggling to be brave and strong taking care of her crippled wheelchair-bound husband. The next time we see her she is in a motel room with Aiden Quinn. They are silly and amorous, two things she could never be at home. All is good until he leaves to get more ice and she witnesses something unnerving in the motel courtyard.
“The film is pleasant but the parts never add up to a whole, not that they really have to. The fact that some vignettes are connected and some are not (Glenn Close talking to Dakota Fanning – her imaginary child – for example) is unsettling. I feel that something about the film is unfinished although I can’t put my finger on it.
“The men are secondary in NINE LIVES but Joe Mantegna almost steals the whole show with his touching performance. 3 cats
“NINE LIVES was shown at the 2005 Woodstock Film Festival.”