9 Songs

"2 lovers, one summer, and the 9 songs that defined them."

2004 1h 10m EN

😐

5.5

MID

🥫

23%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

4.7

IMDB

★5.5TMDB · 609🥫23%Rotten Tomatoes●43Metacritic★4.7IMDB · 25,324

DramaMusicRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall - London's Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night's end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs.

“2 lovers, one summer, and the 9 songs that defined them.”

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Cast

Kieran O'Brien
Matt
Margo Stilley
Lisa
Courtney Taylor-Taylor
Himself - The Dandy Warhols (uncredited)
Alex Kapranos
Himself - Franz Ferdinand (uncredited)
Guy Garvey
Himself - Elbow (uncredited)
Robert Levon Been
Himself - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (uncredited)
Peter Hayes
Himself - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (uncredited)
Gruff Rhys
Himself - Super Furry Animals (uncredited)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Writers: Michael Winterbottom
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 70-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 22 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Michael Winterbottom, shot by Marcel Zyskind. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michael Winterbottom shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Kieran O'Brien and Margo Stilley and Courtney Taylor-Taylor carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "2 lovers, one summer, and the 9 songs that defined them.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0411705 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Winterbottom directs. Marcel Zyskind behind the camera. Michael Winterbottom cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 70-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2Shot for just $1.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Released 22 years ago.
4Directed by Michael Winterbottom, shot by Marcel Zyskind. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Michael Winterbottom shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Kieran O'Brien and Margo Stilley and Courtney Taylor-Taylor carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "2 lovers, one summer, and the 9 songs that defined them.".
8IMDB entry: tt0411705 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 34 themes, including "london, england", "concert", "rock 'n' roll", "sexuality".

The technical file

Cinematography: Marcel Zyskind
Editing: Michael Winterbottom
Sound: Alan Cridford
Runtime: 70 min · 1h 10m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $1,000,000
Box office: $1,574,623
Return: 157% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: 9 Songs (2004)
Rotten Tomatoes: 23% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 43/100
IMDB rating: 4.7/10 · 25,324 votes
MPAA: Not Rated

Awards

1 win & 2 nominations total

Also by

Michael Winterbottom

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

tmdb280390232022-08-28
★ 5/10
Lisa is an exchange student in London. Her affair with Matt has the urgency of the ephemeral. They are enjoying an extended, unofficial honeymoon; we see them dancing, drinking beer, doing drugs, hanging out, having irrelevant conversations and, above all, going to rock shows (all nine of the titular songs are performed live) and having sex (Matt and Lisa have intercourse the same way they talk; ie, like real human beings as opposed to movie characters). There is generous nudity, and the sex is sometimes tentative and sometimes vigorous, and often uninhibited and experimental – as well as explicit and unsimulated (and, might I add, safe). At the same time, the songs, all except one by indie, garage, and punk rock bands (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Elbow, Primal Scream, among others), are raw and stark, as befits a live performance (the film’s short length, a little over an hour, likewise adheres to a minimalist punk ethos). The sex scenes follow the musical numbers, in at least one case overlapping until they merge into an audiovisual orgasm, in which the sexual act and the musical act become one, fleshing out the intangible bond that has always existed between sex and rock 'n' roll. By making Matt and Lisa the only characters with dialogue and individuality, director Michael Winterbottom makes it clear that their relationship is not just about sex; as it happens when two people fall in love (or like each other a lot), the lovers feel like the only two people on the planet, a feeling that the rest of concert-goers, a nameless and faceless mass, does nothing but emphasize. Matt is a glaciologist, and the immediacy of his passion for Lisa is contrasted with the timelessness of Antarctica (“the memory of the planet”), from where he looks back on their romance. After a year, Lisa returns to the US, and the two part without long goodbyes. This is the most realistically happy ending for a relationship, since, as we all know, the honeymoon phase is untenable and, with the passage of time, even sex becomes a chore – something like playing the same song every night. And sure enough, after a while, despite the musical and sexual variety – the latter of which includes cunnilingus, masturbation, blindfolds, hand tying, and manual, pedal (for lack of a better term), and vaginal sex –, the film’s structure becomes repetitive towards the end, although, once again, the brief running time keeps the tedium from becoming unbearable.

Production companies