$9.99 (Independent Film Review)

Etgar Keret is an Israeli author and scriptwriter known for his off kilter tales , similar to modern day fables. In $9.99, his third collaboration with Australian short film director Tatia Rosenthal, he takes hope and transposes it onto a modern day apartment building.

The film follows a group of residents who all reside within an apartment building in Sydney, Australia.  Each of the characters has their own story, which all meet and are interconnected.  The film is in stop motion, which seems like nothing more than a stylistic choice at the beginning of the film, is soon revealed to be put to good use.  The film has fantasy elements, but the animation makes the fantastical elements seem to fit into the Sydney backdrop.

The animation itself is phenomenal, beautifully smooth, with none of the slight jumpiness that is typical of stop motion animation films.  Their is a point in the film where a character shaves off all his hair, but he remains recognizable even with the lack of detail in most stop motion puppets.

Geoffrey Rush as the embittered chain smoking angel, is the highlight of the film.  His dry delivery and comedy is no doubt brought on be his own knowledge of humor, as well as the excellent script by Keret.    The rest of the cast was also top notch and the integration of the voice actors into their animated avatars was also well done.

The overlying themes of hope in the modern day, sometimes get muddled with the way that certain characters interact.  While the Angel is easily seen as a postmodern interpretation of a redeemer, the rest of characters roles are not as clear.  The director's choice in how the story is told is unclear at times, and the causes for some of the more fantastical element's needed to be made clearer, especially given the film's dark and brooding opening.

The film is a dark comedy and it certainly shows that.  Its rare though, in that the darkness of the piece comes not from flawed characters (though they are indeed flawed) but by situations that cause them to misunderstand each other.  This overlying inability to control everything is perhaps the greatest stake the film makes in its message that hope is alive, even in our disjointed, unorganized, modern society.