Hacker Cinema
The Ninth Gate
1999 · Film · 133 min
Directed by Roman Polanski
A rare book dealer finds himself at the heart of a string of paranormal events when he is hired to find the last two copies of a text, The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, capable of summoning the Devil.
4 positive1 mixed3 neutralfrom 8 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
8 comments on Hacker News
I think what the article is missing is that main issue with streaming platform (for music and videos) is that it reshapes completely the business models of the music/movie industry. A CD or DVD was maybe a bad product, but it allows not "TOP" artists/production to still get ROI without needing to be viewed/watched by audience of billions.
The music/movie industry is now way less diverse, because smaller actors cannot live out of it, so only the big players remain and produce stuff that only a very large audience would like but not love (you cannot please everyone whenyou have a 1B audience). Smaller categories in movies and music will just disappear: look at the 2000`s movies like the Ninth gate or some cool thriller, these could not make enough money just with the theater tickets but they could exist thanks to the DVD money. Now with streaming there is not enough revenue to capitalize on second tier movies (not block busters) that would be really loved by a smaller audience.
We have a less fragmented culture so by definition it just slowly looses its richness.
There’s also a lot of artistic creepers, which predate the internet but the internet shone a light on their creepiness.
I would, for instance, watch The Ninth Gate a couple times a year if Polanski hadn’t directed it, or had directed it post jail instead of hiding from justice for 25 years. Instead I watch it about twice a decade. Luke Beson is almost as problematic, and I have a hard time reconciling just how brilliant Gary Oldman is as Stansfield with how creepy the overall tone is, especially the European cut. I enjoyed that movie when I was young and had seen the American version. Trying to show it to other people (especially the Leon version) and seeing their less enthusiastic reactions made me see the balance of that story less affectionately. As well as seeing it through the lens of an adult responsible for children instead of being the child. Now I watch The Fifth Element and that’s about it.
It goes on my list of 'dreamlike' movies, they don't always fully add up consciously but you can feel your unconscious going into overdrive while watching them (or maybe there is a surface plot that mostly adds up, like EWS, but there is clearly something going on at a least one other level). The viewing experience is often downright hypnotic for me.
A few off the top of my head, this is a very personal list and I can't even claim that all these movies are 'good' in any particular sense. Just that they put me into this state: * basically anything in lynch's cannon. I'm not always the biggest fan of his stuff, but sometimes they hit me hard. * Cronenberg's Videodrome and it's spiritual sequel Existenz * Donnie Darko & Southland Tales (objectively just an awful movie) * Prince of Darkness * Enter the Void (not for the faint of heart) * Paprika * Solaris (the original mostly, there are some qualities in the remake) * Stalker * Dark City * Sorry to Bother You * The Fountain * 8 1/2 * The Ninth Gate * and certainly Eyes Wide Shut
The Ninth Gate (Roman Polanski), which I have seen perhaps 5 times. I think it is the hidden meaning in old books which draws me to this movie. Videodrome (David Cronenberg) and recently Midsommar (Ari Aster) plus many of the already mentioned.
For me RT has mostly been a reasonable indicator of what is worth watching and what isn't, subjective as that might seem.
Some stuff though just doesn't make any sense to me (going back to the point about subjectivity).
I love the movie The Ninth Gate, and that scores 44% on RT with the critics, and 57% with the audience.
I know a lot of people who love it as well. So I thought that the reviews were perhaps influenced by Polanski's history, but then when you look at The Pianist, which came after by quite some years, it scored 95%. So what gives?
A nice slice-of-life article. The world of used and rare booksellers has always been fascinating and alluring to me, a lover of books.
Books like "Club Dumas" (upon which the great yet unfortunately directed movie "Ninth Gate" is based) as well that offer a fictionalized peek into the world I find utterly captivating.
For folks that enjoy the article I highly recommend the 2019 documentary "The Booksellers." Such great stuff. I someday hope to be fortunate enough to be something more than an amateur collector, though I wonder if having the means to simply buy the editions you want outright rather than having to hunt them down might somewhat diminish the thrill :)
Was anyone else thinking about The Ninth Gate as they began reading this piece? The globetrotting, talk of valuable books and masterful antiquarian knowledge, and slow but definite buildup of tension were the same. Anyone know of another film or book that has this same feel?
Excellent piece, worth reading to the end.
This kind of reminds me of the beginning of the Ninth Gate, a rather under-appreciated Johnny Depp movie from about 10 years ago.
Without, of course, the hot woman who turns out to be Satan.