$9.99 is a curious little film that was put together under some particularly interesting circumstances. A New York-based independent filmmaker (Tatia Rosenthal) and an Israeli author (Etgar Keret) came together on a stop-motion animated feature produced as an Israeli-Australian co-production filmed in Australia, with post done in Israel, while using a worldy cast to voice the slice-of-life that is $9.99. Oh, did I mention it coincidentally makes use of nine animators? All of this ties into one peculiar animated feature as a varied group of characters search for the meaning of life amidst the pursuit of happiness.
Best described as an urban fairy tale involving a group of people who all take up residence in a corner apartment building, $9.99 follows a young boy (voiced by Jamie Katsamatsas) who pines for a new toy, a man and his fiancee (Joel Edgerton and Claudia Karvan) who are having relationship issues and a lonely old man (Barry Otto) as he takes up conversation with a bonafide foul-mouthed angel (Geoffrey Rush). These characters all play a part in a story which centers on a father (Anthony LaPaglia) hoping for the best in life and for his two sons, Dave and Lenny. Lenny (Ben Mendelsohn) is a repo man that has fallen for a supermodel and will go to any lengths to make her happy. Dave (Samuel Johnson) is unemployed and deemed unqualified to be a telemarketing agent. In his despair Dave buys a $9.99 booklet claiming to have the secrets to the meaning of life, which serves to play a significant role in his life while becoming the theme of the film itself.
$9.99 is geared 100-percent to an adult audience and does its best not to ask any questions, or really answer them, in hopes the audience will come to grips with their own personal curiosities and formulate their own questions as they best see fit when it comes to the eternal question – “What makes you happy?”
Despite a far different approach to Claymation than say Wallace and Gromit or Corpse Bride, and a storyline that would typically intrigue me I wasn’t able to manage any real interest. I was fascinated by some of the animation and the crass angel voiced by Geoffrey Rush was a fun diversion, but overall the story just didn’t excite me beyond an initial fascination. The attention to detail in the work from facial expressions down to the sweaty bodies as two clay characters make sweet love was worthy of applause, but no matter what the intention of most of it, I wasn’t shocked, miffed, offended or baffled. I just watched and when it was over it was over.
This is one of those films I neither love or hate, I simply accept its existence and move on with very little to say. It’s a perfectly satisfactory film that some may find deeper meaning in than I did, but I couldn’t recommend anything more than a last minute rental. It’s hard to figure if it would have served the film better had it abandoned its more fantastical elements and grounded the story solely in reality or if it would have benefit from an even further mythical approach, but as it stands the balance doesn’t appeal or detract from the story as much as it just allows it to exist with a few mild comical moments and plenty of standard fair.
