Why you can trust GamesRadar+
Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
Nine songs. Two copulating actors. One London apartment. Zero script. Sketching the relationship of Matt (Brit regular Kieran O'Brien) and Lisa (US newbie Margo Stilley) through a plotless hopscotch of live sex and live rock concerts, Michael Winterbottom's controversial DV strip-down adds up to far less than the sum of its parts.
Like Gus Van Sant's Gerry gone nude, Winterbottom's brief encounter teases with light-dappled naturalism only to wilt into numbing boredom. With O'Brien and Stilley improv-ing a fizzle-free intimacy void, it's as blank as the Antarctic wastes O'Brien's character reminisces over (a trying metaphor, that). Even Brit cinema's first mainstream pop-shot is delicately edited for anti-erotic effects.
The heat, in fact, comes from 9 Songs's grainy concert footage, from the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Primal Scream. So, a skin-flick that leaves you keener to catch a live gig than shag an aloof American girl? Something wrong there.
The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.
