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movie review - The Ninth Gate

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Okay. Sara and I stuck around through the credits of this one wondering what the hell we'd just seen. The first two hours of this movie were slick (if a little cliched) and well-paced, with a number of interesting developments, strong characters, and a reasonable intelligence. The main character is not so much drawn through the movie as dragged, as he finds himself moving through the world of wealthy, crazed Satanists. Everything's moving along very well, and then the movie ends without warning or reason.

Sara and I turned to one another, each hoping the other got the movie. Neither of us did, and when we asked one of the cinema's attendants, he said a lot of people came out of the theatre saying the same thing. We discussed it with other movie goears - they had no idea, either. So, either we're out of it, or Polanski should have called it quits after Chinatown.

Not recommended.