9 – Delusions of an Aftermath
To say that we really haven’t seen enough of the themes explored in this film before would be wrong. We have. Apocalypse and what not. A group of unknown who-left-‘em-here’s. it is quite really the middle of nowhere. Your closest and most recent reference points are Wall-E, I am Legend etc.(I guess The Road is next) so you think in those terms.
There is an overtly simple tone that bothers you. I for one was thinking I have entered the teen version of 9 or something, for the first few minutes. Characters were talking with so much clarity I could take a vacation. Then the more adult themes came forward gradually, so to say, and I felt better. The scientific backdrop of their sorry reality makes for an interesting watch. The Scientist, his retelling of the atrocities played upon him by The Chancellor. Actually the retelling happens by many angles. And as I realize now, many were there in my head.
As I saw the washed-out newsreel stills of the flashback bits, I thought I was reading a comic-book, which conveys more visually than a normal scene could do. So you know by now, my initiation into 9 and the way I responded to it was multifold. I was looking forward to an animation film no doubt, but the one that has huge expectations to live upto. Noone knows the genre much, noone knows if it’s kids or adult. And there I guess, came the fantastic point of view that gives 9 an edge, the kinds where films exist beyond their obvious and near possibilities.
Then the characters. We have, regrettably, come to such a phase in cinema that it is counter-everything-counter-device, counter-text, counter-tradition etc. so when something like 9, essentially and dexterously carves out characters, with all their share of unique qualities and mannerisms, we do feel a little distracted from the overriding emotion.
Once we have that out of our way, I took to the characters rather easily, given my initiation into their world, but it did come with a little delay. I can say may be the time the film ended was when I began thinking of all the elements, the characters, the design, the music etc.
1, given all his shrewd behavior and unjustified decisions, came across as quite interesting and confusing to me. I liked the way he didn’t make the perfect decisions, and that expression on his face said it all.
7 was all what I had expected and more, the best intro scene of the film.
5 was John C. Reilly as a one-eyed doll. Not the wisest, not the cutest, but Reilly nonetheless.
8 was a joyous ode to Oogie-Boogie from Nightmare. And this suspicion came true when he heals out his mental wounds rather romantically in a spaced-out moonlit night, something very Burton, and the one of the few moments in the film when you were not thinking Machines or Apocalypse.
3 & 4 were charming archivists that did a lot more than playing archivists, fun to watch, and surprisingly not irritating.
2 was the quintessential artist or the enemy of the world. I liked the thing on his head. Groovy. The crazy inventore, with his textbook eccentricities in place.
6 was nicely melancholic, in the way he alludes to their sad past and worse future, the discovery of the sketch.
9 kept it all together, and displayed some flashes, in the parts where he goes back to the lab and discovers a dead scientist, the place where they all came from, and few more things that matter significantly in the scheme of this bleak-future adventure. Watch the film to feel the pulse, and to explore what I am hinting here.
Then comes the light. The green light. It registers itself like a character. And it is devastating and soothing at once.
Then the machines. I liked the one towards the end, with blades for a face. Quite scary and well designed. And very metal.
The Fabrication Machine reminded me of Doc Oc. This film has some nice mechanical sensibilities. The smallest of paraphernalia is given so much detail you feel like once is not enough.
The Seamstress was disturbing and Edwardy. Thank god for that.
In terms of action, the film is rewarding. The grandly staged chase atop sliding rooftops and crumbling facades of a world long gone(notice the camera here, the zoom-outs and the angles, pure delight), the glorious recalls to the past, the scenes with the machines, the brutal ‘BRAIN-wash-dead-eye’ sequences, the nicely B-sensibility flashback and logical connections, and many such finely orchestrated set pieces.
My favorite scene would be the record playing one, where the film chills out a bit, and old records rule the moment, soon to be confronted with a reality that couldn’t be ruled out in the threat they are hiding behind. Another one was when 9 gets a voice(‘Friend’).
And my favorite jump off your seat if you don’t have anyone to answer to moment was the lovely outtake of 9 at the laboratory window.
Ebert got it so right, like many other times, when he calls it ‘unwholesome’. That sums up the many reasons why 9 is special. The film dumbs down your apparent-but-yet-to-be-investigated-intelligence at times, with too simplistic dialog, but the action and the unfolding of events make up for it.
Everything and every response to this film’s visuals and the emotions they awoke can’t be explained. If I were to pick few words, I would say Toy Story & Pinocchio. Add to that a nicely mystical connection(soul et al) to the mechanized aftermath gloom, and you got 9. A lot is left desired, but many a promises are kept.
So rise up for this oddly-old-school yet frequently enjoyable saga of the much-tried apocalyptic-race-for-life genre. And carry an extra pair of eyes and head for the visual delight you are about to witness.
We are surely and fittingly asking for more, Mr. Acker. The enigma stays…
Reviews:
Born to be Mild
NY Times – A.O. Scott
AV Club
Baltimore Sun
“a perversely fascinating ballet mécanique”- Village Voice
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
‘A lot is left desired, but many a promises are kept.’,i say
Really interesting stuff from Burton is something I stopped expecting after Planet of the Apes.. even the enjoyable gore fest of ‘Barber’ wouldn’t bring good old Burtonesque cinema back from the dead…
Now this one seems to be equally uninteresting… I will watch and form an opinion … but the review within the review, is what I liked beter… Ebert jis…
‘One might question the purpose of devising a life form in a world otherwise without life, only to provide it with an enemy that wishes only to destroy’… Such comments from a lesser soul would have bee frowned upon as the inability to get hold of the underlying dialectic materialism by an uncool person…. but since its Ebert.. we have to swallow.. He is right.. and harsh, loaded with lot of sense…
exactly. you don’t question Ebert.
For those who loved ‘Planet of the Apes’, this was the next best thing. and whats this truck with a ‘world without life’. i mean, it was a take on it.. i don wanna blow the ending here but that should sort of have put things in perspective.. i do admit acker went ape ass on the action and saved the ending for soul but hell, thats the kind of film this is man. Ain’;t no great art but as pulp as they go!
As pulp as they go?! Hahaha interesting. Repeat viewing I need now.
I guess you put it right tushy, maybe I formed an opinion in the first 20mins, but I felt the need for a more higher purpose to let “them” be it. You kept it short this time… ;)