User reviews

During my cinematic explorations I've seen a lot of of far out movies, but The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz has got to be one of the strangest. It's a paranoid yet hilarious film, mixing post-modern end-of-the-world visions with biblical ones. It's one heck of a ride, and though the budget has obviously been quite small, the creators of the film have not let the finances bind their imagination.

In The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz the fair city of London stands on a brink; a solar eclipse is going to darken the skies, and madness begins to emerge. Arcanely dressed Thomas Katz rises from the sewer, and it soon becomes obvious that he is the harbinger (or even the cause) of the chaos to come. The only hope lies in a blind police commander, who is deeply connected with the spirit world. Can he save the white astral child who represents life before Thomas Katz goes through his weird series of metamorphosis, thus sealing the fate of London. And what is Dave going to do about it? What, don't you know who Dave is? Well, he knows who you are, and after you've seen the film you understand why.

When I saw the film the director, Ben Hopkins, was there to present it; he told that much of the dialogue was done by improvisation, and many of the scenes were invented right before they were shot. It's not hard to believe those claims. The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz is not thematical whole; instead it is a series of funny, eerie and surreal scenes portraying the chaos that inhabits our world. While some of these scenes may not work, most of them are, in all their absurdness, scaringly accurate. This clarity of vision covers for the lack of coherence, and makes The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz a worthwhile watch. In it's depiction of irrationality and chaos the film owes much to Luis Buñuel (a debt it openly admits), and it could be even said that this is Buñuel for the post-modern age. Still, the film is highly original in it's own right, and such comparisons should not be taken as claims of plagiarism. Ben Hopkins is not the new Buñuel, but The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz is a film Buñuel would've been proud of.

Ben Hopkins in The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz presents a Kafkaesque take on London on the verge of apocalypse. Ian McNeice is a million miles from Bert in Doc Martin, reveling in the role of the blind police inspector trying, through psychic means, to make sense of it all. His enjoyment of the role is infectious. There are some genuinely funny set-ups here, carried off by a cast not afraid to go for high camp. The comedy works most of the time, but when deeper meanings are the target the film is a little hit-and-miss. Shot ultra-low budget, it looks like a very slick student movie, but has enough laughs and surprises to overcome its aesthetic limitations. The films big achievement is to present London in a fresh, and vaguely frightening, way. More of interest to aspiring lo-budget filmmakers than a general audience.

This movie defies description, categorization, genre placement. There is simply almost nothing like it - a clever mind trip that relentlessly weaves the plot in a neck-breaking-paced surreal, absurdest, postmodern apocalyptic story with a great soundtrack, trippiest image sequences, great sense of humor, and deep paranoia and darkness. Despite using seemingly gimmicky effects and tricks, very low budget and mostly black-and-white shooting, this movie feels so well done and so well narrated, they don't hinder it at all as they would many other movies - instead, as if on the height of its "genre", this movie absolutely flourishes with them, as the very best silent movies do on their own unhindered by the absence of sound. A must see, but also definitely a "not-for-everyone-er".

This black and white film was shot on a low budget in London. It is quite funny, but occasionally in fact often very odd. I think the oddness may have been because the production was German and they have a different sense of humour over there or alternatively it may have been because the director was just having a laugh with his Art School mates.

Very funny in places though. I enjoyed it.

Apparently I have to write more so I will also say that the film uses old testament themes to play out an apocalypse in contemporary London. Much of this is quite interesting however according to my mum "the film could have done with better editing". I would say this is accurate

How do I describe this one of a kind masterpiece?

I could tell you to throw the work of David Lynch, Monty Python, Stanley Kubrick, Guy Maddin, and Maya Deren into a blender, and you might have an idea as to what this film will be like.

This film is extremely clever, and very thought provoking. However, one can also enjoy loud bursts of laughter throughout this film as well. The comedy is very fresh and even irreverent at times, making it a great dark comedy for those who like a more intellectual film rather than a box-office hit.

This film is not for narrow minded people. If you can't sit through a film that requires constant thought, you're best to just stay away and prevent people from bashing a great film.

In the Revelation of St. Peter, it is said that a false Messiah will come, and that Henoch and Elijah will appear to expose the impostor. "The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz" draws heavily on such doomsday stories, canonical as well as apocryphal. A solar eclipse is imminent, the astral child is dying, judgment is coming, and, perhaps worst of all, London's tube stations are disappearing. Enter Thomas Katz, a shape-shifting space alien coughed up by a manhole off the M25 motorway. Under the watchful eyes of London's inscrutable chief of police, Katz takes over a string of high-profile identities to set in motion a vicious plan. But where does it lead? Will it, like the M25, eventually circle back on itself? Only Katz himself knows. Or does he? After all, we don't really know who he even is. Extremely inspired nonsense, miraculously produced by veteran German soap opera writer Hans W. Geissendörfer. Did this ever play in theaters? Too bad if it didn't.

This is a film that has been improvised, and you can tell from some of the rather sketchy scenes. Some of the acting comes into its own from this freedom to improvise, and I especially noted the acting of the young Joshua Morrall, who acts the football captain. He really shone through on the screen, and I'm sure that he will blossom into a fine actor. Some of the elder, more accomplished actors seemed a little uncomfortable with the weight of improvising, but all of the characters come out with a lot of depth, and the film comes together very nicely because of it. Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by this films turnout. I highly recommend it.

Although this movie has the look and feel of something a high school student turned in for his film-making class final project, it is worth watching if you enjoy absurd or surreal vignettes. Make sure you don't expect to get anything meaningful out of it, however. It does poke fun at various elements of society -- I especially liked the "emergency broadcast" talk program on the BBC, which was only slightly more bizarre and irrelevant than most of these talking head programs. The Ouija board scenes were also hilarious. In fact, the more I think about individual scenes, the more I appreciate having stumbled across this film.

This has to be one of the oddest movies that I ever laughed hysterically at. I saw it at the Toronto Film Festival where half of the people laughed at everything like me, and the other half walked out. If you love insane humor, check it out. That is if it ever gets a distribution contract, which it definitely should. If it does ever come to a rental house near you, instant cult classic status.

With this film I'm actually suspecting an all out con game, an elaborate joke, since it's just too nonsensical to even take seriously. The makers are probably laughing about the fact that people are willing to give them awards for it.

And even if I see this as comedy, this film still is too incoherent, too packed full of stuff and it has too many switches in style to even be watchable. That said, it also doesn't lack good ideas. I even laughed a couple of times, but as a whole it's just overdone, boring and probably just too low-budget for what it's trying to do. As soon as the mythical nonsense starts, all the atmosphere just evaporates. That's when I wanted to turn it off. And I should have, since it turned out to be a waste of my precious lifetime, really.

It's a shame, since the idea actually had potential, else I wouldn't have wanted to watch it in the first place.

Even the comparison with Buñuel in some of the other reviews is laughable, since Buñuel didn't aim for just nonsensical. He aimed for the surreal, which involves much more than ridiculing aspects of society (although it definitely has a part in it too). It seems that a lot of "artsy" people haven't quite noticed the difference between the two concepts yet.

You know, if you want to see something that will remind both of David Linch and Flann O'Brian, you will have to see that 9 lives. But remember - this drama won't help you to workout the positive point of view to the world. As usual for English absurd, this movie is rather dim and melancholic. Though the humor is bright and, considering the fact it was made almost without of any scripts, by only alive human inspiration, this is coming close to the highest level. I would not say I have understood something new about myself or someone else on this planet, but I certainly got the idea that not only Monty Pytons does something strange, and I'd say beautifully strange, in England.

As the movie started, I have expected somehow good picture, an intriguing mix of art and expressionism. And I've got all of that, but in the very bad way. The movie starts very promising (accelerated crowd in London with techno soundtrack + first blust of Tomas) but that's where ends everything nice and reign of absurd starts. And it made me starting to hate the movie, and left me confused and angry. I'm not a huge fan of art movies but I could watch anything while it has a logical story to follow. And, the most important, while it is tasteful. This movie isn't! It has a short story of the end of the world with many unconnected and unnecessary scenes which spoil the whole movie. I am a huge fan of Monty Pyton. It isn't very logical but it is very tasteful. This movie is mainly a BAD TASTE.

I could go on and on. But first, Hi Bert!

Polished Eraserhead Metropolis, 30s/80s style indie with more polish. A few "extra" madcap scenes that tried the dead, but overall spectacular. Fantasy all-day marathon:

9 Lives of Thomas Katz

Element of crime (sewer grate motif) Pontypool Decoder Kontroller Pi Dave Dies in the End Coffee and cigarettes Metropolis

I am adding my comments somewhat late, it seems. I read most of those written before mine, so that my judgment may lack some spontaneity. It is now impossible for me to dissociate my personal impressions from those of some of the other viewers. But something really weird strikes me: few dare say that the film is a bore and a waste of time. That it's simply fashionable to make pseudo-intellectual comments, staying aloof as it were, for fear of being pronounced a Phillistine, is more than obvious. That this movie is radically different from the usual Hollywood flicks, no one (not even me) will dispute. But does this non-conformism necessarily make it an enjoyable movie, I am not too sure. I sat thru the whole show, not really feeling that I was totally wasting my precious time, but not feeling at all enriched by the experience either. The least I can say is that it is curious, aims to put off the viewer by its nonsensical story, while drawing no conclusion from it. Now and then, I had a glimmer of hope -- were we about to have something in the vein of Monty Python's flying circus? But no -- we were left high and dry, and the show reverted to its previous ineptitude. My advice: if you have time to waste, it's better than nothing. But I can think of a million things worth doing instead.