The first thought I had while watching was how curious it is for a film to hinge so much on pareidolia, a phenomenon that's decidedly subjective. Sometimes I saw what the camera was wanting the audience to see, and sometimes I didn't. The second thought I had while watching was how weirdly light and almost indifferent the feature is about its storytelling. In the first hal hour we're treated to a big dollop of plot, and otherwise the first hour doesn't really go anywhere, or say or do much. Broaching the one-hour mark we get another scene that portends more plot to come, though it's paired with a line ("someone must put an end to this") that's peculiar given how little has happened up to that point, or even just been discussed as having happened. And, well, other scenes in the back end serve up story that feels jumbled, or ill-fitting, or which makes leaps of logic exceeding the bounds of what came before. We do actually get a complete story, yet it's stretched very thin in some places, with some tears resulting from the cinematic calisthenics. I think there are some solid ideas in '99.9,' but they're ultimately given a form that struggles to feel cohesive, and which strips away the potential for atmosphere and dark vibes. This is sadly rather middling.
For as weakly as the picture builds its narrative in the preceding length, the reveals and climactic events to come in the last fifteen to twenty minutes seem to come out of nowhere; and the struggle for cohesiveness seems to have reached an impasse. For the first time we're getting meaningful horror, yet the incidence is so forthright and abrupt that it's just not particularly fun. For the past ninety minutes filmmaker Agustí Villaronga was no more able to summon a spark of vitality with his direction than he and co-writers Lourdes Iglesias and Jesús Regueira were able to craft a cogent, absorbing mystery, and still when all is said and done it feels like we've gotten a vague assemblage of ideas than a tableau in which those ideas have been truly connected to one another. By all means, this is well made in most regards, with admirable acting from the cast, crisp cinematography, fine stunts and effects, fetching hair and makeup, beautiful filming locations, and commendable art direction. Unfortunately, these facets generally just aren't as important to a movie as the writing and direction, and in the most important of ways '99.9' is sadly very deficient. Whatever it is you're hoping to get out of this title, I don't think you're going to find it satisfying.
I knew nothing about this when I sat to watch, and I was ready to engage with an open mind and see what it had to offer. I'm disappointed that what I saw was a conglomeration of appreciable craftsmanship adjoined with unconvincing storytelling and direction that was bereft of necessary vibrancy. I'm glad for those who get more out of this 1997 flick than I do, but I think my time would have been better spent elsewhere.
For as weakly as the picture builds its narrative in the preceding length, the reveals and climactic events to come in the last fifteen to twenty minutes seem to come out of nowhere; and the struggle for cohesiveness seems to have reached an impasse. For the first time we're getting meaningful horror, yet the incidence is so forthright and abrupt that it's just not particularly fun. For the past ninety minutes filmmaker Agustí Villaronga was no more able to summon a spark of vitality with his direction than he and co-writers Lourdes Iglesias and Jesús Regueira were able to craft a cogent, absorbing mystery, and still when all is said and done it feels like we've gotten a vague assemblage of ideas than a tableau in which those ideas have been truly connected to one another. By all means, this is well made in most regards, with admirable acting from the cast, crisp cinematography, fine stunts and effects, fetching hair and makeup, beautiful filming locations, and commendable art direction. Unfortunately, these facets generally just aren't as important to a movie as the writing and direction, and in the most important of ways '99.9' is sadly very deficient. Whatever it is you're hoping to get out of this title, I don't think you're going to find it satisfying.
I knew nothing about this when I sat to watch, and I was ready to engage with an open mind and see what it had to offer. I'm disappointed that what I saw was a conglomeration of appreciable craftsmanship adjoined with unconvincing storytelling and direction that was bereft of necessary vibrancy. I'm glad for those who get more out of this 1997 flick than I do, but I think my time would have been better spent elsewhere.