The Nines

The Nines
File:Mimesposter.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John August
Written by	John August
Starring	Ryan Reynolds Hope Davis Melissa McCarthy Elle Fanning
Cinematography	Nancy Schreiber
Edited by	Douglas Crise
Music by	Alex Wurman
Distributed by	Newmarket Films
Release date	UK: November 30, 2007 (2007-11-30)
Running time	99 min
Country	Template:FilmUS
Language	English

The Nines is a 2007 psychological thriller / drama, written and directed by John August, and starring Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis, Melissa McCarthy, and Elle Fanning. The film debuted at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and made $63,165 in the U.S. box office through October 11, 2007.

Plot

"Part One - The Prisoner" tells of a troubled actor, Gary, who is wearing the green bracelet on his wrist. Gary is under house arrest living in another person's house because he burned down his own, the owner of the house is described as a TV writer away on work. While living in the house he is befriended by both a P.R. 'handler', Margaret, and the single mom next door, Sarah, who may or may not be interested in him romantically. Over the course of his house arrest, Gary becomes convinced that he is being haunted by the number nine, including finding a note saying "Look for the nines" in his handwriting. He also sees different versions of himself around the house, which unsettles him, causing him to break out of his house arrest barrier, which in turn causes a blip in reality. He encounters many occurrences of the number nine, while playing backgammon he rolls nines, while reading newspaper advertisements be becomes obsessed with finding nines. Asking Sarah about 9, worries her and she cryptically tells him "I can get you out of here".

"Part Two - Reality Television" tells of a gay television writer, Gavin, trying to get his pilot made. He leaves his house to go away and work on his TV show, "Knowing", about a mother and daughter who are lost, which stars his friend Melissa (Melissa McCarthy playing a version of herself) as the lead actress. In a conversation about reviews and critics Susan, a television executive, tells Gavin to look for the nines which he then writes on a piece of paper, the same piece which Gary found in Part One. He also tells Melissa he thinks he is haunted by himself. During the process of post production, Susan pushes for Gavin to ditch his friend Melissa as the unconventional lead actress of his project, in favor of a more attractive, well-known actress. This causes an argument between him and Melissa. He then finds out that the well-known actress was actually cast in another show which Susan knew of before suggesting her. Since she is now unavailable and Melissa won't answer Gavin's phone-calls. Gavin confronts Susan about her knowing his show would never get picked up and about him only being a subject on a Reality-TV show. After a heated exchange, he snaps and slaps her in the mouth. Insulting his manhood for hitting a woman she scoffs "Do you think you are a man"? She walks away, which leads to him telling the reality TV cameraman to leave him alone. A pedestrian then asks him who he is talking to, and it is shown that the reality television cameraman does not exist. He looks around and notices that everyone has a 7 floating above their heads and also that he has the number nine floating above his head.

A flashback from Part One shows Gary's P.R. handler, Margaret, telling him he is a God-like being and that God is a 10, humans are a 7 and that he is a 9, therefore he can destroy the world with a single thought, and that he exists in many different forms and that none of them are real. Gary does not believe this and flips out, which is revealed to be the real reason for his breaking his house arrest barrier in Part One.

"Part Three - Knowing" tells of an acclaimed video game designer, Gabriel, whose car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Gabriel leaves his wife, Mary, and young daughter, Noelle, to try to get a better signal on his phone. He meets a woman, Sierra, who leads him off into the woods to her car, so she can give him a lift to the gas station. Meanwhile back at the car Noelle watches a video on a digital camera showing Gavin talking to Melissa from Part Two and Margaret talking to Gary in Part One. She is confused and shows her mom, who appears confused as well.

Meanwhile, Gabriel shows signs of intoxication, as Serria had drugged water she was giving him with gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid . She has been trying all this long as Sarah, Serria, Susan to separate the other three incarnations of "G" from Mary. That poisoning him with GHB was the only way to get him to stop long enough to reason with him. She calms Gabriel by telling him that this is an intervention and they (the Prostitute from part 1, and parole officer/agitated man), were trying to help him come home. She likens Gabriel's addiction to the game evercrack or video game addiction. That Gabriel has been playing for 4,000 years reincarnating into different roles to play with the humans. The 3 nines plea with him to come back home.

Back at the car Noelle has gone missing. Gabriel then returns to the car with Noelle in his arms and the family goes home. Mary, who realizes that he is not who he seems, tells Gabriel he needs to go and that the world is not real. Gabriel tells her that there were ninety different variations of the universe and this is the last one. Gabriel then realizes he must go and removes the green bracelet from his wrist, at which point the universe peels away into nothing. The film ends with the woman from all three parts married to Ben, whom she is married to in Part Two, and Noelle as their daughter. Noelle tells her mother that "he's not coming back" and that "all the pieces have been put together" and her mother finishes her sentence that this is "the best of all possible worlds."

Production

The movie was shot over 22 days in Los Angeles and two days in New York, with some scenes in John August's house. The movie was shot in a combination of video and film with everything being posted in high-definition. Despite this, the film has yet to be released on Blu-ray disc.

Reception

The film currently holds a 68% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Philosophical Ideas

The movie explores several old philosophical and theological ideas, notably about multiple universes and Leibniz's idea that this world is the best of all possible worlds. By this, it is usually meant that, as an omnipotent being, God has chosen this "version" of all possible "versions" of the world. Voltaire satirizes Leibniz in Candide, which Gary appears to be reading in the first part and is, in fact, asked by Sarah if he is reading it.

It is clear that "G" is not equivalent to God, in the sense that Leibniz would have understood as "G" is told that he is a "nine" and God is a "ten". Thus, Gary is more akin to the god-like character Q in Star Trek and indeed in both shows we are aware that these characters have other beings of their own kind (for Gary it is Sierra's explanation that he has been "god-like" for four thousand years and that he must come home; whereas Q is part of the Continuum).

As well, the film is clearly stating that this world was created in many previous versions, all of which perished at Gary's command. Therefore, the film could be interpreted as anti-evolutionary by virtue of its premise that Gary is a creator being of immense power. However, there is no suggestion that the world was created in the Biblical time-frame of the Old Testament and so the exact length of the intervals of "non-existence" of this world between versions is unclear. It could be interpreted that Gary's ninety versions over four thousand years are of uneven length, or even occurring simultaneously as multiple worlds. In the latter case Gary could (if he is god-like) know every possible world simulatenously and choose "this" version as well.

The Film also explores the new age belief of Higher consciousness.

Rating

MPAA Rated R for language, some drug content and sexuality. BBFC Rated 15.

Cast

• Ryan Reynolds as a niner named: "G" Gary a troubled actor/ Gavin a TV writer/ and Gabriel a Computer-Game designer
• Melissa McCarthy as Margaret, Gary's PR handler/ Melissa an actress in Gavin's TV show/ and Mary, the wife of Gabriel.
• Hope Davis as niner presumably named "S" Sarah, Gary's Neighbor/ Susan a TV excutive for Gavin/ and Sierra a mysterious woman who tries to help Gabriel
• Elle Fanning as Noelle
• David Denman as the Parole Officer/ and the Agitated Man/ a interventionist niner
• Octavia Spencer as a Streetwalker/ and the Pedestrian/ an interventionist niner
• Ben Falcone as Himself
• Dahlia Salem as Herself
• John Gatins as Himself
• Andy Fielder as the Moderator
• Greg Baine as the Delivery Boy

Awards and nominations

34th Saturn Awards

1 nomination:

• Best DVD release

External links

• The Nines at IMDb
• Look for the Nines Official Website