The Nines

This overreaching, Lynch-lite comic drama is the mediocre directorial debut of screenwriter John August ('Charlie's Angels', 'Big Fish') and, if nothing else, demonstrates why some writers should stick to their laptops.

The cosmic "resolution" that ties the stories together proves less interesting than the stories themselves.

The Nines, which in real life began as a TV project, wavers uncomfortably between satire and dime-store existentialism on the big screen.

The dialogue snaps, crackles and pops. And confusing as they may be, the stories are never boring.

Bright and vicious, desperate and cruel, the characters of the first two stories pop with a kind of nihilistic joie de vivre that makes you want to hug them and kill them at once.

Confusing? Yes, and intentionally so. But it's never boring.

It defies categorisation, which I love, and defies logic, which is very European. But it's also clever, funny and compelling

An interesting, if high minded, concept film that is nothing without its performers.

The sort of movie that would probably appeal to Ryan Reynolds' detractors . . .

August is on solid ground when he's riffing on Stephen King and celebrities, but he's stretching when he tries to be David Lynch, which would require a distinctly different kind of brain damage.

August may be peddling some absurd New age "secret", but at least it allows him the benefit of stronger and more coherent storytelling.

Em sua estréia como diretor de longas, August faz jus à inteligência de seu roteiro intrincado, criando uma história tensa e instigante que surpreende tanto como ficção quanto como reflexão metafísica/religiosa. Além disso, o elenco revela-se fortíssimo.