MovieChat Forums > The Nines (2007) Discussion > help me i'm dying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! end?!

help me i'm dying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! end?!


i really enjoyed the film but i still don't get it.
help!!!! please?

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You'll find that many people have many different theories about the plotline, but here's how I saw it, in a nutshell.

Ryan Reynold's character is a "God". Maybe THE God, maybe one of many Gods, there are many arguments about this in the threads. Regardless, the world in the movie is his creation. He was enthralled with this world, and created himself as human, for the purposes of interacting with the real humans (the 7s - he is a 9). Wow, that sounds confusing, sorry.

At any rate, at some point, he began playing multiple "characters" or the three different Ryan Reynolds we see in the movie, and forgot that he is a 9, or a God. He was convinced that he was a mere human.

His friend, Mary/Margaret/Melissa, was just a human. But, the "god" became friends with her when she was 12, and he told her who he was. In all of the different realities, she plays a large part in his story, and as he tells her at the end, "You are my favorite." Favorite human. Hope Davis is also a 9. She becomes a character in Ryan's Reynolds' different realities to try and draw him away from Mary/Margaret/Melissa, as she knew that "god" was emotionally attached to MMM and was tethering him to the world, and not letting him get back to being a "god" - or go to heaven, or whatever they would call the place where 9s exist.

So, the whole time, MMM KNOWS he is "god" and as you see at the end, she isn't surprised that he has to leave. And, after he leaves, it shows MMM in a kitchen with the husband she had in one of her realities, looking like she did when she was an actress in that reality, with a daughter that is happy and can speak and hear. The daughter also knew that her "father" was "god", and she tells the mother that he isn't coming back, but that it's okay. That he took the best parts of all of the different stories in order to make the best possible world for them.

This is probably confusing you more than anything...let me know if you have any questions :)

http://www.intervocative.com/dvdcollection.aspx/aliminxdvd
My DVD Collection

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[deleted]

That's all good and well, and THANK YOU, aliminx. But what I'm left wondering, is WHY?

Why tell these stories? What were the writers and producers trying to say to us?

Movies are entertainment presented with the artistic talents of many people, but in the end they are stories that should mean something to the teller and to the audience. Even thrill rides have some value, otherwise no one would bother with them, let alone invest a great deal of resources and talent into them.

So, what was/were the point/s with this movie?

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How about you think that out for yourself :)

As they said in the movie about the show "knowing" it wasnt meant for dumb people, they wanted ppl to think.

(not implying that youre dumb :) )

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That's all well and good for you to SAY, Sentraxx...but think about WHAT? As you imply, even a Zen Buddhist koan (such as, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?") has some kind of message/point/direction-for-enlightenment.

Of what are we supposed to think?

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[deleted]

The message *might* be to think about the world around you and question the things that make it up. Not the most original concept but I was left with a semi positive feeling at the end. To think this world is the best of all possible worlds (according to the movie). Maybe its as simple as "be grateful for what you have. It could be worse"

"There's still some signs of life"

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It is missing the point to ask what to think.

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Okay...so perhaps just asking "What to think" was not the best way to express it.

In thinking about it at all, so many questions come up that I am unsure what direction the movies producers (meaning director, writers, actors, consultants and everyone who had input on the content) wanted us to go or where the producers intended to go with it themselves.

So, my question about what to think was a plea for discussion, for viewers to express at least some of their thoughts and take me further into some of the questions that the movie engendered.

How's that for a pointless point?

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Well, *I* think this is what the movie poses us to ask ourselves:


How do we know we're not a "7" who's forgotten that we're really a 9?


It's a common thread in a lot of philosophies & religions that we are ultimately something more than what we perceive ourselves to be in our day to day realities. But we've become so immersed (obsessed, even) in "reality" and our day to day lives that we've forgotten this. As a result, we waste our true potential for creating and experiencing infinite possibilites. This is what you might say is the core of human misery, but we're unware of it. However, subconsiously we do know this, and that is why we feel so lost and unfulfilled with modern life. What these philosophies & religions try to do is guide us back to our true nature. And I think that's why movies like these strike a chord within us, even if we don't fully understand why. They're reminding us of what we instinctually know, but can't quite recall.

Some other movies that do the same:

The Matrix Trilogy
Dark City
The Truman Show

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I love this reply, thanks z74neo

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same. Well said TerryWright
See also, Mullholand Drive, Inception, Stranger Than Fiction, LOST and what I consider this films closest cousin of what I have experienced, Lunar Park(a novel by Bret Easton Ellis) All explore themes of Solipsism, identity, creator vs character, meaning in universe.
Impossible to ask what we are supposed to glean or take from these examples because it's intrisically human for us all to take something different...
Better than bein led down a romantic/comedic/action packed tunnel by Jonny beefcake of Suzie super-jugs though....Ya feel me?
7's FTW!

Gotta return some videotapes

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While it is a common thread in many philosophies and religions, I believe the 7 who's forgotten they're a 9 theme follows closest to the tenets of gnosticism. Gnostics basically believe that we begin our lives knowing everything, immediately forget everything and that learning is the act of remembering. We start all knowing (deific), forget who we are (become human), and then, by seeing past the illusion, find our true selves.

Neo, for instance, always had the capability to have dominion over the illusion of the matrix, he just needed to flick that switch in his head and embrace the true reality. Truman, same thing. Gary / Gavin / Gabriel, ditto. None of these characters inherently changed during the course of the story, it was just a shift in perception. Gnosticism basically teaches us that ignorance, self doubt and confusion are all an illusion and that we're all capable of seeing past this lie and rise to a higher level of being.

Change your perspective and your omniscience will be revealed. Your power will come back to you- and not just in a 'if I'm happy others around me will be happy' sense, but in a matrix/deity like ability to manipulate everything around us. Sickness, poverty, hunger, loneliness, unhappiness, fear- these are all illusionary aspects of a '7' existence. If we can flick the switch and understand our innate 9ness, we can eradicate this baggage from our lives.

At least, that's how I interpret the gnostic message of these films. There are many different paths to 9ness ;)

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So how do you do that though? If I'm actually a 9 I wouldn't mind remembering it. Do the Gnostics give a method for doing it?

Also, if everyone is basically a god, then who's controlling things? Or, how much control does each one have? Ryan Reynolds could do whatever he wanted since he was the only god of that world, but if there are multiple gods who are equal to each other then what happens?

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I disagree with your sentiments behind suggesting that there HAS TO BE some other reason for the film. The funny thing is, I think it tells us more about YOU that you think there HAS TO BE a reason behind the movie. It tells me that you were moved by the movie and think the movie speaks beyond film and screen. Which also tells me the movie was good, or at minimum, did it's job.

If I am correct, I share your experience in the movie that it spoke to me in a way that influenced my concepts of reality. I'm not saying it changed them. It just influenced them.

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Yes, zenbudda...is that not the purpose behind so much literature, movies, plays, philosophical discussions?

However, movies and most literature are somewhat different, I propose. In order for them to succeed beyond the "concept" stage, they need to appeal to something in us that includes hearing/seeing a STORY. If there is not a story, a movie or play or book just does not get produced or published. Or not to the success that this movie has received.

So, all the stories have to have messages in them or they will not appeal to anyone. There are all kinds of messages that can be included in a story or a movie or play or book. As we have seen in the MANY discussions in this movie's IMDb message boards, there evidently have been many messages perceived and which have spawned even more messages.

This particular thread seeks to bring out discussion about the movie's main messages. What does it mean? People don't tell stories--make movies--just to try to get someone to think. All that material in a 90-minute or 2-hour production has greater purpose than that. It wants us to think about SOMETHING or maybe many related SOMETHINGS and we are trying to figure that out.

Who are we? Why are we here? What will happen next? Where are we going? I think the movie delves into each of these. Like any GOOD story, it comes up with SOME answers, though in this movie, the answers SEEM to be still in a code of some sort, for lack of better terminology, and that's what we're trying to figure out.

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I agree. I think this is about questioning who you are and your potential. Accepting your lot in life versus thinking outside what you have been told is possible or real. Thinking beyond. Also, there is a message about getting caught up in your own creation. For me, an artist, I can completely identify with that. Obviously on a lesser level, but I felt like this film was a metaphor for not getting tangled in your own web.

Bam said the lady.

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[deleted]

There is a critical scene in the movie that explains it all. G is a multi-dimensional being. he created "our world". but he also destroyed it over and over again (90 times as quoted at the end of the movie). his 3 buddies (the 2 girls and 1 guy) are his multi-dimensional friends trying to get him back to "their world". he has an addiction to the world he created.

the "3 scenes" are separate incarnations of himself within our world. he wants to experience our world as different people. wouldn't it be cool if you could change who you were (an actor, a singer, a billionare, ruler...eventually you would pick someone less substantial).

in my opinion, this concept "could explain" why no "godly" events have happened in a long time. god was addicted, and had to let go and give humans true "Free will". however, this concept would only work for believers in god.

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