The Ninth Gate
3/4
Starring: Johnny Depp, Frank Langella, Emmanuelle Seigner
Rated R for Some Violence and Sexuality
"The Ninth Gate" is another religious thriller that came out shortly before the new millennium. This one, directed by Roman Polanski, is a creepy and disturbing mystery with a plot that grabs you and keeps you involved until the end.
Dean Corso (Depp) is a shady rare book dealer who is contacted by Boris Balkan (Langella), one of his regular clients. He owns a copy of "The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows," a book that is said to be able to summon the devil himself. Only three copies are known to have survived, and Boris wants Corso to track down the others to find out which one is the real one. Because Balkan is paying him a considerable amount of money, Corso agrees, even if he has to do some illegal things. But when he starts seeing people following him, he wants out. But Balkan tells him to find it...or else.
The acting is effective. Depp, who can really do anything, is surprisingly good in the low-key Philip Marlowe-ish role. He doesn't give the character any of his trademark oddities, which is the right decision. Frank Langella is at his creepy best as Balkan, the man who may or may not be pulling strings. Lena Olin is also good as Liana Telfer, the wife of the previous owner of Balkan's book. The weak link in terms of acting is Polanski's wife, Emmanuelle Seinger. She has screen presence and is excellent at using her eyes to show emotion, but she has a lot of trouble with the dialogue.
Director Roman Polanski, who has a dark past, is probably the best choice for directing this movie. I couldn't help thinking of his other religious-horror movie, "Rosemary's Baby." The two films have the same kind of atmosphere, which is key to this film. Part of that his his trademark camera movements, in which he opens a scene where the camera looks around the room as the character notices them. He has a good sense of atmosphere as well; you can feel the evil lift off the screen.
The problem with the film is two-fold: the tone seems to change from scene to scene, and the ending is on the weak side. The change in tone is the film's biggest problem. One scene the film is a disturbing horror show, the next it's a macabre thriller a la Hitchcock. The tone changes so much that it's hard for the suspense to build as it should. The ending isn't a particularly big problem, but it isn't well-motivated and it could have been handled better.
I don't know why this film got such poor reviews. It's a good movie, and I really enjoyed it.
Starring: Johnny Depp, Frank Langella, Emmanuelle Seigner
Rated R for Some Violence and Sexuality
"The Ninth Gate" is another religious thriller that came out shortly before the new millennium. This one, directed by Roman Polanski, is a creepy and disturbing mystery with a plot that grabs you and keeps you involved until the end.
Dean Corso (Depp) is a shady rare book dealer who is contacted by Boris Balkan (Langella), one of his regular clients. He owns a copy of "The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows," a book that is said to be able to summon the devil himself. Only three copies are known to have survived, and Boris wants Corso to track down the others to find out which one is the real one. Because Balkan is paying him a considerable amount of money, Corso agrees, even if he has to do some illegal things. But when he starts seeing people following him, he wants out. But Balkan tells him to find it...or else.
The acting is effective. Depp, who can really do anything, is surprisingly good in the low-key Philip Marlowe-ish role. He doesn't give the character any of his trademark oddities, which is the right decision. Frank Langella is at his creepy best as Balkan, the man who may or may not be pulling strings. Lena Olin is also good as Liana Telfer, the wife of the previous owner of Balkan's book. The weak link in terms of acting is Polanski's wife, Emmanuelle Seinger. She has screen presence and is excellent at using her eyes to show emotion, but she has a lot of trouble with the dialogue.
Director Roman Polanski, who has a dark past, is probably the best choice for directing this movie. I couldn't help thinking of his other religious-horror movie, "Rosemary's Baby." The two films have the same kind of atmosphere, which is key to this film. Part of that his his trademark camera movements, in which he opens a scene where the camera looks around the room as the character notices them. He has a good sense of atmosphere as well; you can feel the evil lift off the screen.
The problem with the film is two-fold: the tone seems to change from scene to scene, and the ending is on the weak side. The change in tone is the film's biggest problem. One scene the film is a disturbing horror show, the next it's a macabre thriller a la Hitchcock. The tone changes so much that it's hard for the suspense to build as it should. The ending isn't a particularly big problem, but it isn't well-motivated and it could have been handled better.
I don't know why this film got such poor reviews. It's a good movie, and I really enjoyed it.
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