9 Songs - the movie

I watched this movie '9 songs' the other day and am not sure whether to call it an 'extended music video' or 'tasteful porn'. The only reason why the movie is named '9 songs' is that there are nine featured concerts against eight love making sessions in it. It could have very well been named '8 orgasms'. If you ever watched porn and wished for some good music between all the huffing and puffing, then probably this one is for you!

The movie tells the story of a couple who have two areas of mutual interest - live concerts and sex. So their intense love making scenes are sandwiched between some good music by bands like the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Von Bondies and Franz Ferdinand. Looks like the director has taken some lessons from our very own Bollywood movies, just that instead of casting some extras in the songs, he has actually shot live concerts by real bands. The lack of sensual overtones in the music sequences have been more than compensated in the sexual encounters. Oh, truth be told, music and sex is not all that's there in the movie; there are about six or seven other scenes where you see the couple trying to make coffee, starting a conversation, driving to a beach and talking over the telephone. So don't you dismiss this one as just another porn flick!

I was reading a bit to see how such an explicit work got released as a mainstream film. Understandably, the directors and producers had positioned it as an 'art' movie. Now a days art is something the rest of the crowd 'wows' about, while you are totally clueless. Going by that definition, this is definitely art... just that I could not see it quite clearly in the low light, with so much of distracting action going on all around. Or probably I looked at all the wrong places!

It would be interesting if somebody make an Indian version of the movie by replacing the concerts with cricket matches. Our directors handle nudity and sex better than anyone else. The love making scenes can be easily managed with flowers and bees and a few parrots. We are such a smart audience, that once the camera pans out from an embracing couple to show the cieling fan rotating, we get it!