| The Ninth Gate (2000) 133 min |
| aka La Neuvieme Porte La Novena Puerta |
| I'd say that Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate has to be one of the most misunderstood movies in recent memory. Since he's revisiting satanic themes, this one is immediately placed side by side with and compared to his earlier masterpiece, Rosemary's Baby. This is so unfair to the movie, but unfortunately very few have taken time to look at it on its own merits. I don't understand why people need to quickly catagorize everything for easy consumption. In particular I blame the king of cinematic bafoonery, Leonard Maltin. Maltin stated The Ninth Gate didn't hold a satanic candle to Rosemary's Baby'. That is exactly the kind of knuckleheaded know-it-all-ism that's going to prevent this great film from ever getting the recognition it deserves. |
| That being said, I'll move on to the film itself. It's an adaptation of a fragment of the french book Le Club Dumase. Unfortunately, I have yet to read the book but from the film it seems like a good idea that he only chose a portion and changed the title appropriately. There's enough going on here to fill the 2 hours + running time, and I fear anymore would have made the final product a cluttered mess. The story follows the exploits of an amoral book collector Dean Corso (perfectly portrayed by Johnny Depp) as he his hired by a rich publisher (Boris Balkin, brought to life by Frank Langella, who is probably the only actor that could have made such a memorable performance primarily through phone conversations) to track down two other copies of a satanic book he's obtained. The book is supposed to be able to conjure the Prince of Darkness himself, but for one reason or another Balkin's book isn't doing the trick. All hell breaks loose as Cosro tries to authenticate one of the copies of the book. Dead bodies pile up, he meets a mysterious girl in peculiar places, and the previous owners of Balkin's copy get antsy to get their property back. Doesn't sound much like Rosemary's Baby to me, how about you? |
| The key difference between this one and Rosemary's Baby is the way Polanski deals with the subject at hand (sorry for stating the obvious). Rosemary's Baby is an especially serious film, the satanic themes are left ambigous. The Ninth Gate is a fun story, with the devil as its central focus. In telling the story Polanski has a ton of fun with the devil and related issues and themes. The lighter tone of The Ninth Gate allows Polanski leway, so that personal beliefs and the such don't get in the way. This is not to say that no subtleties are present for the observent viewer, it's just that they're much more playfull than they are in the earlier work. In the end, you probably either agree with me or you don't - so I refrain from waisting anymore time debating the relevance of comparing the films. |
| On its own, The Ninth Gate is easily one of my favorite movies in recent memory. One that impressed me greatly when I saw it in the theaters (with about 10 other patrons on opening night...) and gets worlds better with repeated viewings. On the surface it is an admittedly good looking film (those opening credits are soooo cool!) it's the finer details that really do it for me. This is probably some of the best looking CGI that I've ever seen in a film mostly due to the fact that I had no idea much of it was CGI until I listened to the commentary track. Repeated viewings are also great for gaining a further understanding of character's motivations and actions, as well as humorous little nods that Polanski laces throughout (like Corso whistling like R2D2 and a bunch of similarities to Polanski's earlier Chinatown). My personal favorite touch is the use of actor Jose Lopez Rodero in the dual role of twin booksellers. The scene involving them is a ton of fun as well as worthy of debate. With their knowledge of books and forgeries are they more responsible for the film's course of action, and if so - to what degree? This is left up in the air and I think makes a wonderful discussion piece for this great film. As for the ending, personally I liked but I've talked to very few people who have. More times than I can count I've heard people say how they liked the movie up until the end. I didn't feel that way, the twist was kind of surprising, but in no way hokey. It's possible that people were expecting more of an explosive pay off with a movie about the devil. I see The Ninth Gate as a low key, but often tongue in cheek movie and a more action oriented climax would have seemed out of place. Others site a lack of resolution as the ending's problem. I guess it's all a matter of perspective, I've talked with some very respectable people who hold this opinion. I just don't see it that way. |
| I already mentioned the great performances of Depp, Langella, and Rodero, but it should be noted that everyone involved made an impressive turn. Noteworthy are Goldie (Snatch and The World is Not Enough) and Lena Olin as the ruthless duo trying to recapture Balkin's copy of The Nine Gates. The real surprise here is the enigmatic performance turned in from Polanski's wife Emmanuelle Seigner (yes, she's 33 years younger than him). Seigner is perfect for the mysterious girl who is apparently following Depp all over the world. Her looks are amazingly both suspicous and comforting at the same time. |
| As for releasing, Artisan gave it a short theatrical run in 2000. It was released as early as 1999 in some places but not until 2000 nationally. The promotion campaign was very clumsy, it was marketed like some sort of gothic action movie. Screwing with an audience's expectations is pretty dangerous. I think most people were expecting heavy metal, explosions and, hellfire. Instead they got a though provoking brooding little film with an awesome score by Wojciech Kilar (Bram Stoker's Dracula and Polanski's latest, The Pianist). It's not my intention to insult anyone who thought differently of the film than me. It's just that when your expectations are not met in any way it often leaves a bad taste in your mouth. I word urge people to give this film a second look before dismissing it. If you still feel the same way, email me, I'd like to hear other opinions on the film. Anyway, I digress. Artisan later released a great DVD, making up for the botched theatrical run. We get some interesting extras such as a still gallery of the drawings from the books, standard trailers and bios, nice looking menus, and best of all an entertaining commentary with Polanski. He offers a good deal of insight into the film's technical and thematic aspects and most importantly keeps the commentary fun and lively all by himself (if you think that's easy, try to listen to Rob Riener go solo on Stand By Me!). |
| I give this one 9 forbidden gates out of 9 (5 out of 5)! |
| review by Joe Canistro 04/06/2002 |
 |
| Click on the curious head to email me! |