Nine Lives (2005)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Rodrigo García

Writer (WGA):

Rodrigo García (written by)

Release Date:

2 September 2005 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Every life has a story. And every story has a life of its own.

Plot:

Captives of the very relationships that define and sustain them, nine women resiliently meet the travails and disappointments of life. |

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Cemetery | Mother Daughter Relationship | Funeral | Ex Husband

Awards:

9 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

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

Directed by
Rodrigo García		(as Rodrigo Garcia)

Writing credits (WGA)
Rodrigo García		(written by) (as Rodrigo Garcia)

Produced by
Alejandro González Iñárritu	....	executive producer
Amy Lippens	....	associate producer
Julie Lynn	....	producer
Kelly Thomas	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Ed Shearmur

Cinematography by
Xavier Pérez Grobet

Film Editing by
Andrea Folprecht

Casting by
Amy Lippens

Production Design by
Courtney Jackson

Art Direction by
Amy Lamendola

Costume Design by
Maria Tortu

Makeup Department
Alexandra Carter	....	hair stylist: Jason Isaacs
Barbara Lamelza	....	key hair stylist
Barbara Lamelza	....	key makeup artist
David Larson	....	assistant hair stylist
David Larson	....	assistant makeup artist
Stephen Lewis	....	key hair stylist
Stephen Lewis	....	key makeup artist
Nacole Raphalian	....	assistant hair stylist
Nacole Raphalian	....	assistant makeup artist
D. Garen Tolkin	....	key hair stylist
D. Garen Tolkin	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Jonathan McCoy	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nicholas Fitzgerald	....	second second assistant director (as Nick Fitzgerald)
Douglas Plasse	....	second assistant director
Darin Rivetti	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Rachel Flores	....	prop assistant
Allison Gross	....	property master
Jonathan Rothell	....	art department production assistant
Dustin Thompson	....	art department intern

Sound Department
Jaime Baksht	....	sound re-recording mixer
Felipe Borrero	....	production sound mixer
Sergio Diaz	....	first sound editor
Juan Antonio Gomez	....	foley mixer
Martín Hernández	....	sound designer
Martín Hernández	....	supervising sound editor
Samuel Lehmer	....	adr supervisor
Matthew Ryan Lepore	....	sound production assistant (as Matthew LePore)
Chris Navarro	....	adr recordist
Alejandro Quevedo	....	sound editor
Jon Tendrich	....	boom operator
Roland N. Thai	....	sound effects editor
Eric Thompson	....	adr mixer
Carlos Zamorano	....	foley artist

Special Effects by
Richard Van Den Bergh	....	special effects technician

Visual Effects by
Thomas Mathai	....	data manager (uncredited)

Stunts
Bobby C. King	....	fight choreography

Camera and Electrical Department
Larry Cha	....	electrician
Erik Folsom	....	best boy electric
Russell Griffith	....	gaffer
Geoffrey Haley	....	additional steadicam operator
Dan Kneece	....	Steadicam operator
Nic Larsen	....	best boy grip
Steven Mann	....	first assistant camera
Will McGarry	....	still photographer (as William McGarry)
Skip Mobley	....	second assistant camera
Henry Tirl	....	Steadicam operator
Eddie Tucker	....	electrician
Kenny Tucker	....	electrician
Tony Whitman	....	key grip

Casting Department
Chris Bustard	....	additional casting
Chris Bustard	....	extras casting
Stephanie Laffin	....	casting associate
Janelle Scuderi	....	casting assistant
Georgia Simon	....	adr voice casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Aimee McCue	....	assistant costume designer

Editorial Department
Bob Fernley	....	digital intermediate producer
Michael Hatzer	....	color timer
Jack Lewars	....	assistant color timer: Efilm
Lisa Tutunjian	....	digital intermediate editor

Music Department
Bryan Carrigan	....	synthesizer programmer
Chris Fogel	....	music scoring mixer
Scott Glasgow	....	score preparation
Barklie K. Griggs	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Carlos A. Aragon	....	location manager
Amy Carrelli	....	production coordinator
Gonzalo García Barcha	....	title designer
Joel Goldes	....	dialect coach
Mary Jasionowski	....	production accountant
Charlie Kimball	....	location intern
Larry Madrid	....	animal trainer
John Mazza	....	production assistant
Larry Payne	....	animal trainer
Ingrid Urich-Sass	....	script supervisor (as Ingrid Urich-Sass de Fidalgo)

Thanks
Emilia Arau	....	thanks
Jared Rappaport	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Mockingbird Pictures

Distributors

• Alfa Films (2006) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Magnolia Pictures (2005) (USA) (theatrical)
• Mikado (2005) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Conquistador Worldwide Media (2006) (non-USA) (all media)
• Evolution Entertainment (2009) (Switzerland) (DVD)
• Hamburger Medien Haus (HMH) (2009) (Germany) (DVD)
• Ledafilms (2007) (Mexico) (TV)
• Millennium Storm (2005) (Italy) (video)
• Sandrew Metronome Distribution (2006) (Finland) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Versus Entertainment (2006) (Spain) (all media)
• VideoFilmes (2006) (Brazil) (DVD)

Special Effects

• CIS Hollywood (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Central Casting  extras casting
• Donna Daniels Public Relations  publicity
• Scarlet Letters  end titles

MPAA:

Rated R for language, brief sexual content and some disturbing images.

Runtime:

USA:115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | American Sign Language

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Finland:K-11 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:15 | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Mockingbird Pictures

Trivia:

All nine stories take place in real-time.

Quotes:

Marisa: Who are you?
Sandra: Sandra.
Marisa: My daughter's name is Sandra. How old are you?
Sandra: Thirty-seven, mom.
Marisa: She's younger.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 2006 Independent Spirit Awards (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Tennessee Blossom

Intriguing effort of capturing short glimpses of rich, magical reality in everyday lives

Director Rodrigo Garcia is the son of the famous writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Brought up in a literary environment and choosing another medium of communication--the cinema--for himself, the son uses the tool of the father to chisel away at sculpting good cinema. Spoken words, characters, relationships play a major role in the finished product that a reader of Marquez would find easier to appreciate than others.

Ostensibly, the film is collection of 9 short stories or vignettes of 9 different women. In the first four, some characters appear in other episodes. The last five are connected by the word "connection". The last of the nine remains the most difficult and intriguing and an appropriate one to end the film.

The film captures each of the nine segments in a single shot without a cut. The film resembles various works of Robert Altman--even the long-shot of "The Player"--and the structure of "Magnolia" and "Crash." What "Nine Lives" has that the others do not is the Marquezian element of magical realism.

To explain this one has to begin at the final episode. "Nine lives" alludes to the cat. A cat is shown on a gravestone. A mother (old enough to be a grandmother) escorts a young girl (her daughter) to a grave and brings with her not flowers, but a bunch of grapes. She leaves the grapes behind on the grave. The final shot does not show the girl but the mother alone. Whose grave is it? Is the young girl real (or alive)? Did the mother bring grapes for a child who loved grapes, who is now merely a memory for an old woman? The stories are interconnected by relationships (mother-child) episode 1 and 9, parents and children (2 episodes of Holly and Samantha), husband and wife (Camille) and the trio of husband, wife and lover (Diana, Lorna and Ruth).

To savor the richness of the film, one has to go beyond each segment and look at the links the director provides to see the breaks in relationships and the ultimate reconciliation the full film provides. In the first episode, the viewer sees a break in the relationships. In the finale there is reconciliation even in death. In between, divorced couples consent to sex, a young teenager appears to be more sensible than her quarreling parents by giving up a chance for better education to keep the fragile family together, and another fighting couple remind you of Albee's George and Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" An abused daughter realizes she cannot kill her father. A faithful husband helps his wife get emotionally ready for a mastectomy.

If there is a flaw, you can point out that it looks at nine women rather than nine men. But then in literature, cats are associated with females rather than men, and the director was born to a family who appreciated literature.

There is little that is spoken in this film. But each word is important to understand and enjoy the film. It is a film that deserved the Locarno Film festival honors. Personally, I loved the performances of Glen Close, Robin Wright Penn, the lovely Amanda Seyfried, Elpida Carillo and Ian McShane. But the entire cast was great--like any Altman film. Garcia, unlike Altman, stresses on the spoken word, not merely the images and music.

I saw the film at the recently concluded Dubai Film Festival. Was it a coincidence that Marquez's friend and Chilean filmmaker of repute--Miguel Littin--was outside the cinema hall trying to get a feel of the reaction of the audience to film made by his friend's son without being noticed?