9 Songs: Pure Film Magnificense

It is a rare thing for me to be in blown away and/or impressed with a film. I blame it in part because I have seen so many films on both sides of the spectrum that I go in with a bias that each film will be average in comparison to others in its genre. The other part being some movies are just plain bad. This morning I watched Jamie Kennedy's documentary Heckler and have a new outlook on criticizing movies so when I decide to do so I'll put a little more thought into it than I have in the past. This, however, is not going to be one of those blogs.

9 Songs was released in the UK nearly five years ago. I obtained it via the internet (like always) sometime in the last year and initially put no major thought into ever watching it. A brief overview about the movie drew me in because Franz Ferdinand had a live performance of "Jacqueline" in it but beyond that my interest wasn't peaked in the least. Until today.

Flipping through one of my four 208 disc DVD booklets I came across it once again. Passing over such films as Unbreakable, In Bruges, Flawless, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead and The Wizard of Oz. I had one of those moments where I decided that this movie was going to be watched and kept archived in this case or it was going to be replaced by one of the current movies I am downloading (Eden Lake, Quench, or How To Lose Friends & Alienate People). It was one of the better choices I've made in recent months.



9 Songs solely revolves around Matt (Kieran O'Brien) and Lisa (Margo Stilley). There is no other dialogue from anyone else but these two for the entire movie (other than the the musicians at the concerts). Matt is a glaciologist and Lisa is an American student going to college in London, England. They meet at a concert (song 1) and the movie from there almost primarily takes place in Matt's flat where the two engage in some of the best scripted dialogue I have ever seen. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption are the only other on-screen duo I have seen with energy like this. And the types of energy between the duos is on completely different scales.

Along with the great dialogue throughout the movie, the best real life interpretation of explicit sex between two people is portrayed. Michael Winterbottom immediately moved himself into one of my top five directors simply for how he constructed this movie and put it on film.

We, the viewers, are put into different but awkwardly home-hitting scenarios with Matt and Lisa in between each concert (or song, hence the title) inside of Matt's kitchen, dining area, and bedroom. We see the initial relationship enthrallment, the under belly of love, the soft side of casual drug use, and the inevitable decay of a relationship where one party believes it to be lust and one love. There is an irreplaceable feeling I got while watching this movie of oh-no, oh-my-god and whoa-there that I haven't felt since I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time years ago. This movie is remarkably brilliant in every way possible. A true homage to modern day relationships and human emotions.

It took me nearly five years to get around to seeing this film, but the wait was more than worth it.