The Nines online. ‘C’est la vie’
p2pnet news | Movies:- Is The Nin9s on the P2P networks?
It sure is.
"In the three loosely related stories that make up ‘The Nines,’ a philosophical mind teaser with satirical fangs that marks the directing debut of the screenwriter John August, the stressed-out psyches of jockeying Hollywood muckety-mucks are disturbed by strange metaphysical intimationsm" says the New York Times.
"Think of it as a kind of ‘Twilight Zone 2007′ in which the paranoia endemic to an industry that runs on illusion, hype and extravagant grandiosity comes home to roost."
Cool.
The movie, "challenges your perception and is sure to spark questions and conversation," says /film.
"What is a creators responsibility to his own creations? What is/are the Nines? And why do they appear everywhere? It’s a carefully constructed multi-layed epic played out in three acts. John August has launched himself into a new stratosphere. His dialogue is sharp and clever."
So Yup. It’s downloadable.
And, "And that’s okay," August posts on his blog, johnaugust.com.
"Not ‘okay’ in the sense of ‘legal’ or ‘right.’ But okay in the sense of c’est la vie.
So what else does think about it?
"Since well before our Sundance debut last year, I’ve been curious-slash-paranoid about when The Nines would start showing up on the BitTorrent trackers, the online repository of pirated movies and a few legitimate wares," he blogs, going on >>>
It was inevitable that the movie would get bootlegged at some point. The timing was the delicate issue. If it showed up before Sundance, some distributors might be frightened off (why spend x dollars when people are already watching it for free?). If it showed up online before our theatrical release, we could anticipate a hit in ticket sales, and a tougher time selling it overseas.
So for a while, I was checking every day. And nothing.
But yesterday, my Google News Alert feed showed the inevitable had come to pass: there was a DVD rip of The Nines online. Given the subtitles attached (Spanish and French), it was almost certainly the North American retail release, which I haven’t even held in my hands yet.1
I haven’t downloaded or watched the rip, but I have gotten three emails in the last 24 hours which began, “I recently saw The Nines…”
So it’s out there.
And that’s okay. Not ‘okay’ in the sense of ‘legal’ or ‘right.’ But okay in the sense of c’est la vie. People are going to watch the pirated version, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Sony, Interpol and the MPAA will do their best, but as the guy who made the movie, I honestly want people to see the movie. If the only way you’re going to watch The Nines is illegally, so be it.
In fact, for a writer/director, there’s not a meaningful financial difference between someone watching an illegal download and getting it from Netflix, which distributes a limited number of discs to a large audience. Discuss.
But as the director, there are some good reasons to steer you towards the physical disc once it comes out on January 29th.
> It has a ton of the usual special features: two audio commentaries, a making-of, gallery, deleted scenes (with commentary), and a bunch of Easter eggs.
> It has one thing I’ve never seen before. For the opening sequence, you can see the script scroll by in the upper half of the screen, matched up to the movie and the storyboards for each shot. It’s a lot to process at once — you’ll probably need to watch it a few times — but it’s very cool.
> You can loan a DVD, without passing along that troubling knowledge that you’ve done something illicit.
> If you’re seen buying (or renting) The Nines, you’ll immediately identify yourself as someone drawn to challenging, divisive movies. So make sure to put it at the top of the stack as you slide it across the counter.
> Hidden in five DVD cases are magical golden tickets.2
But if these reasons and/or your conscience doesn’t persuade you, it’s not hard to find The Nines online. And I won’t think less of you. Probably.
Stay tuned.
Also See:-
New York Times – Mysterious Reflections of Hollywood Paranoia, August 31, 2007
/film – Sundance: The Nines Movie Review, January 23, 2007
johnaugust.com – The Nines on BitTorrent, January 15, 2007
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January 16th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
does anyone ever watch a film with the boring commentary track? it was kinda neat back in 1999, but got old real quick.
and as for the scrolling script? who cares? just more unwanted distractions to try and justify increasing the already outrageous retail prices. only a true movie geek would even think about using it. it’s useless anyway unless you have a 50 inch+ screen or a beamer. if the script can be printed out on a pc, that would be much better.
save the commentaries and other lame distractions which add nothing to the viewing experience and use the extra space to improve picture/sound quality. or save the extra expense to pay the required royalties to the technicians who put it all together.
get rid of so-called “easter eggs” and just lay out all the extras neatly in a menu. is that so difficult to do?
scrolling script my arse!
January 18th, 2008 at 2:04 am
I hate easter eggs as I never find them anyways.
The commentaries on some movies I do listen too. I recently was watching Transformers with the commentary on and it explained a lot of scenes in the movie I didnt like. It actaully made me like the movie more. For example I didnt liek the scene in the desert when they were using the cell phone and the guy wanted a credit card. But the director had mentioned that he was told by a soldier that that had happened in Grenada so it made sense.
Scripts on the screen I could care less about. And I dont have a huge tv so divx movies on mine look fine. And Im not gonna go an buy a dvd for 28 bucks. It pisses me off that the studios are lowering HDDVDS/BlueRay prices and raising regular DVDs so people think it nothing to spend 3 more bucks for the better format.
Lately Ive been watching a lot of indie/lower budget films and finding them better then most out there. I havent watched The Nines yet. But I will. I would have never seen it in the theatre, or bought or rented the dvd. But because of torrents Ill still end up watching the movie. But buying a dvd for 25+ bucks and only watch it once is pointless. even if i watched it a couple of times, still too much. And true I could rent it for a buck at my local store (if they carry it) and rip it all anyways. But why bother with that.
But anyways I hope the movie gets a lot of people watching it and maybe will show their support some way.
January 18th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Oh one more thing. I only watch the movie with the commentary on after I have watched it with them off. Sometimes when more people are commentating on the movie it can be funny. I use to love that show that would have a guy and 2 robots sitting in a theatre watching a movie. and then talk about what is going on. Science Fiction Theatre or something like that. Now having something like that on a dvd might be funny. Have a couple of critics do a commentary on the movie lol.