9 is one of the most visually stunning movies I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from its depiction of a post-apocalyptic future without humans and only populated by the machines and little fabric dolls of man’s creation.
The movie is part of a long tradition of stories. The opening scenes of a craftsman assembling a creature with wooden hands and cloth body with a zipper down the front, allowing access to his inner organs, but, alas, failing to quite finish his work, should be familiar to anyone who has seen or read Pinocchio. The sense of man’s creations “living” on after his demise is reminiscent of A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
9 also brought back fond memories of WALL·E with its little robot futzing about collecting detritus from man’s past. One of the best scenes in 9 involves the playing of an old LP of Judy Garland singing “Over the Rainbow.” It feels very much like the scenes of WALL·E enjoying, but not quite fully comprehending, his found videotape of Hello, Dolly!
9 is directed by Shane Acker who was one of the New Zealand animators from WETA studios, creators of the knockout images in Lord of the Rings. But it is truly the vision of its two producers, Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov. Burton’s work is pretty well known and the characters in 9 bear a striking resemblance to ones in A Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride.
Bekmambetov though is a relatively new figure, best known for the cult favorites Nightwatch and Daywatch. I’ve only seen his work in bits and snatches, but the environmental, political, and historical backdrop for this tale is clearly torn from the fabric of his upbringing in the Soviet Union. Much of its visions of mighty, visionary leaders of the past and filthy, despairing smokestacks of the present seem to bemoan his nation’s collapse.
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