Anytime I come across a unique film I’d like to see, I’d add it to my list of “Movies to Watch,” aka “Movies I’ll Probably Never See.” However, with an impulsive grab at a Netflix free trial, I decided to knock a few off of this list, and one of them was 9 Songs.
The basis of the film is two young lovers, constantly engaged in acts of sex with interludes of live rock music.
With this description, I’m sure you’re either turned completely off or on, so let me elaborate.
The title 9 Songs represents the nine songs that play in the movie (and I do give the director props for choosing these bands.) The “set” consists of the following:
> Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, “Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll”
> The Von Bondies, “C’mon, C’mon””
> Elbow, “Fallen Angel”
> Primal Scream, “Movin’ On Up”
> Dandy Warhols, “You Were the Last High”
> Super Furry Animals, “Slow Life”
> Franz Ferdinand, “Jacqueline
> Michael Nyman, “Debbie”
> Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, “Love Burns”
In between each song is the love-making of actors Kieran O’Brien and Margo Stilley. And this isn’t just jack-rabbit humping or waist-up action; this film shows it ALL.
Full frontal nudity, masturbation, use of a vibrator, oral sex, genital fondling, vaginal sex, bondage and graphic ejaculation all take place in this film without skipping a beat. (Perhaps accounting for The Guardian naming it the most sexually explicit mainstream film to date.)
Due to the rarity of unsimulated sex in film, many have written this off as a porno, but I beg to differ.
Yes, the movie shows a lot of sex, but it’s the realest sex you could ever witness on film. The female character is not your typical blonde bombshell with breast implants, shoving a penis between her boobs while making googly eyes at the camera. The male character doesn’t just stare at the ceiling and say “suck it” while the camera zooms in on his penis.
In the same sense, scenes in this movie are not like what you see in Hollywood either in terms of sex. Sure, both characters are getting turned on, but they are not just panting sweatily in a constant position until the scene ends.
This movie is real for the obvious reason that these two people were actually having intercourse on film. But more so, it shows how different sex can be from one time to the next, and how while the act can certainly be raw an animalistic, it can also be amazingly sensual and full of tantric ecstacy when you really can see the other person.
It wasn’t clear how long in the movie the two characters had been dating. Yet typically in relationships, people think having this kind of mind-blowing sex is impossible unless you are with someone for a very long time. Truth is, everyone is capable of feeling this sort of bliss with another human being, if only they let go of their inhibitions and learn to explore the body. You’ll notice that both characters in the film focus mainly on pleasuring the other, while also freely showing the other what turns them on. I feel too many people in our society “hook up,” and than assume for the worst, or are afraid to completely let go.
The characters in the film may have had a short-lived romance, but it was one of such intensity that they’ll never forget it.
In this way, I think the director did an excellent job of portraying the stages two people go through sexually, from getting to know one another’s bodies and being fun and kinky, to helping each other achieve maximum arousal and seeing the person’s spirit and body as one.
Winterbottom also portrayed today’s typical rock concert extremely accurately in terms of how the audience reacts to a band, and I felt this was a brilliant example of how something like a rock concert can bring two strangers together and lead to a completely different out-of-body experience.
