9 Songs

Time to revisit Winterbottom's little experiment. 9 Songs is one of those films I liked a lot the first time I watched it, but mostly because it was so different from other films I'd seen. Watching it again it's still easy to see the initial appeal, but with an extra 8000 films or so beneath my belt, I need a little bit more to win me over.

Matt and Lisa meet each other at a concert in the UK. They immediately fall for each other and they start hanging out together. Their little fling evolves into an actual relationship, but with time, the first cracks form. Not everything remains as innocent as their first days together, which is the real test of any relationship.

The film alternates between gigs and intimate scenes between the couple, two ways to illustrate how their relationship is evolving. The big shocker at the time was the fact that the sex scenes between the two leads were real, but people hoping to find anything pornographic here should temper their expectations. It's a novel way to dissect a relationship and Winterbottom plus his leads do a great job, but it's not quite enough to turn this into a real masterpiece.