An ensemble drama which explores the search for meaning and love in the modern world is not exactly what comes to my mind when I think of feature animation. It was evident even before I caught a glimpse of my first ever claymation penis, that Tatia Rosenthal’s $9.99 is an exclusively adult animation. But don’t get the wrong impression. This film is anything but smut. Working from a screenplay written by herself and celebrated Israeli author Etgar Keret, Rosenthal has crafted a unique and lovely film whose skewed insight into humankind’s search for meaning and happiness is funny, strange and even strangely moving.
An Israeli/Australian co-production, $9.99 follows the lives of a group of characters living within an apartment block in a fictional, nameless city that appears to be an amalgamation of Sydney, New York and Tel Aviv. Notable is Albert (Barry Otto) a lonely old man who yearns for human interaction, Dave (Samuel Johnson) a 28 year old dreamer who is unemployed and still lives with his dad, and a homeless angel (Geoffrey Rush), who seems just as confused as anyone as to the meaning of life.
The characters interact over the course of the film, however writers Rosenthal and Keret (adapting his short stories to the big screen) are not interested in a neat interlocking narrative used in, for example, a film like “Crash”. What we get is more like a series of linked vignettes, in which Rosenthal and Keret attempt to interrogate nothing less then the meaning of life itself.
All this makes “$9.99″ sound like a dark and depressing effort. But although the film has its eye on the big questions, it is underpinned by an irreverence which stops it from ever feeling self-indulgent or pretentious. Additionally, the choice of Rosenthal’s unique brand of animation to bring his stories to life creates a perfect balance between the real and surreal. The aesthetic is charmingly rough (the surface and skin of the characters are coarse and uneven) but at the same time there is an incredible attention to detail in the production design – to the point where you can see the worn scuff marks on the tiny leather couches. Each character feels unique and lived-in and the uniformly excellent voice performances from the Australian cast help form characters we genuinely care about. Samuel Johnson (after a period of unfortunate overexposure in Australian film and television) in particular helps immensely in making his character Dave the soulful, searching heart of the film.
One small quibble relates to the facial animation. As a result of the limitations of the technique, there is little to no facial animation on its characters. As a result, there are times when the more complex emotional moments of the film are slightly confused or do not reflect the nuance evident in both the script and vocal performance. This, however, is small point of criticism in a film which left me thoughtful and rather inspired. And what more can you ask for really?
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Director: Tatia Rosenthal
Writer: Etgar Keret and Tatia Rosenthal (based on the short stories of Etgar Keret)
Cast: Geoffrey Rush (The Angel)
Anthony LaPaglia (Jim Peck)
Samuel Johnson (Dave Peck)
Barry Otto (Albert)
Joel Edgerton (Ron)
Claudia Karvan (Michelle)
Ben Mendelsohn (Lenny)
Leeanna Walsman (Tanita)
This article was originally published with the erroneous omission of Tatia Rosenthal as one of the writers. That has now been amended. -Ed
