27) 9 SONGS

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Stars: Kieran O'Brien, Margo Stilley
Year: 2004
Rating: UR

If you read reviews or comments about 9 Songs - particularly the "Unrated Full Uncut Version" (the version this reviewer saw) - you'll find that the consensus seems to be either that the film is pure art or pure crap, depending on the viewer. Based on director Michael Winterbottom's complaint that novels can have extremely detailed sex scenes and still be deem as "legitimate" art, while film doing the exact same thing is considered pornography. 9 Songs is the two-character study of Matt (Kieran O'Brien), a short, blue-collar-looking British glaciologist (a guy who studies glaciers), and Lisa (Margo Stilley), the carefree, free-spirited American girl on a sojourn in the UK who becomes Matt's girlfriend.

The two met in a musical venue in London, during a concert, and the film chronicles the course of their relationship over nine songs that play out in between increasingly explicit sex scenes of the couple that also defines their relationship.

And that's it - the entire "plot," played out over jsut 71 minutes. The nudity is there from the first sex scene - and for anyone who dares think these two actors are only acting, that CHUNK! you just heard would be your jaw hitting the ground as you see the two actors are NOT just acting; indeed, zero is left to the imagination, each sex scene going beyond the one before ... and it's not surprising that many people would see this as little more than story-porn without the story.

And yet, for me, 9 Songs was indeed more. Kieran O'Brien is the heart and soul of the film as Matt, so in love with this girl who has a tendency to be flakier than new-fallen snow. We see the relationship more through his eyes, and though outside the concerts the scenes between Matt and Lisa seem about nothing more than sex, as the film goes on you do get a sense of what Lisa and Matt (especially Matt) are about, in particular to each other, and while the film does certainly get as explicit as a porn film, for me it never fully felt that way; I could see what Winterbottom was going for, even if the film itself didn't always succeed in finding it.

If you find anything above interesting, titillating, or worth of exploring further, put anyone under eighteen to bed and give 9 Songs a try ... but only if you are of the more indie/artsy film bent, on any level. Anyone else might come away from the film wondering what the hell he or she just saw.

Pure art? Naw. Pure crap? Definitely not. I'm not sure the film is "pure" anything, but of the two I would say it definitely leans more toward art than fart. Worth a peek if you don't shock easily ... for the authenticity of acting that doesn't come off as acting, and the performance of Kieran O'Brien alone. *** Reel Cool