Review: ‘$9.99’

If you are into the interesting stop motion claymation of days past, then $9.99 is for you! If you are looking for an upbeat, interesting story that leaves you all warm and fuzzy inside, then you might want to skip this one.

$9.99 is an Australian based clay-mation based on the writings of Etgar Keret. The plot revolves around 12 characters (all voiced over by Australian actors), and their struggles in life. The stories are all scattered, some even dream or surreal like, and strung together in no particular pattern. The short stories don’t really seem to intertwine to much, or relate in any sort of relevant way to each other. They are just stories of people living in their small town. The only thing that they seem to have in common is that they are all way to caught up in their own lives.

The first story is pretty much about an angry homeless man begging for money in a very aggressive manner. Miraculously, and with no real explanation, he turns into an angel. I don’t know if there is suppose to be some sort of significance to an angry, aggressive man transforming into a higher being (whether mortal or not) but it didn’t really make much sense… at all! This seems to be the trend with a lot of the stories. There is also a beautiful woman who seems to get what she wants, and what she wants is a man with no skin or bones. The weird part is, that there is a man willing to try this! There is also a young person who can’t seem to hold a job. This one is pretty obvious and relatable, but the confusing part is how they jump from realistic to surreal, nonsensical problems. It’s not done in a symbolic way where there is some deeper reasoning to make you think. If that in fact was their goal, they missed the mark big-time! I found myself asking what was the point of these stories, and why should I care. The foul language, drug use, and clay animated sex couldn’t even make things interesting!

The only thing that was mildly entertaining was the creepy stop motion clay-mation. The figures are dark and worn with a twist of looking life like. They are quite creepy. Their lips actually remind me of how Gumby was animated… where they look like they are just stuck on. Watching how they move was the only real highlight to this film.