Polanski has again retained MAIDEN composer (and fellow Polander) Wojciech Kilar, and this is certainly the best music I've heard him write since DRACULA in 1992. Indeed, much of it is rather similar to the DRACULA score, but in a GOOD way -- I'd say it's the best score of 2000 that I've heard so far. The main title sequence, in particular, is completely gorgeous, and I personally liked the quirky stuff Kilar came up with for the Johnny Depp character (though I bet it will irritate some people).

Depp is more or less playing a seedier version of SLEEPY HOLLOW's Ichabod Crane, but to equal effect -- of his generation of actors, few are shaping up to be anywhere as nearly as interesting or brave. I remember liking him in EDWARD SCISSORHANDS when it wasn't considered cool to think this 21 JUMP STREET pretty-boy might actually have some real talent -- I think he's proven himself amply ever since.

Lena Olin is underused, though not as badly as she was in MYSTERY MEN (whad'd she have, half a scene?), but she does get to show off a hint of the verve she showed in, for example, ROMEO IS BLEEDING -- that should have been the supporting-actress Oscar for that year, says me. I'm not sure she's had a single chance to show off at such length, ever since. (Remember her in ROMEO, handcuffed in the car, kicking the windshield out and wrestling herself up over the dashboard and out over the hood? And you could TELL it was her! WOW! Her character is the only reason I'd ever watch ROMEO again.)

Frank Langella is becoming more and more magisterial with age -- in his few scenes in NINTH GATE, his powerful presense just about obliterates the memory of the humiliated wimp he played in the Madonna-fest BODY OF EVIDENCE, a career nadir for all concerned, it must be admitted. In NINTH GATE, mostly we hear him over the phone, but when we DO see him, he's impressive as hell -- to say anything about his character would be to say too much.

Ditto Emmanuelle Seigner, Polanski's wife, which is why he casts her, but a decent actress nonetheless (I thought her superb in BITTER MOON). Anyone else who cares to post here, I wonder what you made of her character, and who it is she's supposed to be. The series of engravings that are part of the plot motor give us several clues, some of them conflicting.

The whole cast is splendid, but I especially want to point out the ODDEST piece of casting (and I don't THINK this comprises a SPOILER, but if it does, then skip this paragraph -- I think you might get more fun out of it if you walk in expecting this): Polanski cast a Spaniard named Jose Lopez Rodero in the role of a pair of elderly TWINS who help explain to Johnny Depp's Corso the nature of the book he's investigating. Polanski takes some delight in using the same actor playing two roles in the same shot, AND THEN brings the SAME actor back at the END of the film, on the SAME set, AGAIN playing TWO DIFFERENT ROLES, AGAIN in the same shot. At one point, the Rodero facing the camera explains that Depp must have the wrong guy: "I'm Pepe Lopez" -- which is Rodero's real-life nickname!

So why do I go into all this detail? Because Jose Lopez Rodero isn't even an actor -- he's a professional assistant director/production manager who's worked in Europe for at least thirty years. He was Franklin J. Schaffner's favorite on such various pictures as PATTON, PAPILLON and THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL -- and Polanski engaged him as Chief Assistant Director on THE NINTH GATE as well!!!! (Jose split duties on PAPILLON with his brother Juan Lopez Rodero -- they must not be twins, or else Polanski would've gone to town on THAT. I wonder if the whole twin-split-camera thing isn't some kind of residual frustration on Polanski's part -- he had a movie cancelled a couple of years ago entitled THE DOUBLE, which was to star John Travolta, but they had a falling-out. Polanski actually tried to go ahead with STEVE MARTIN instead of Travolta, but that didn't wash with the money boys.)

I just HAD to share that about Rodero -- I doubt many people in the WORLD even understood it ...

Unfortunately, I missed the first 10 or 15 minutes, so I still haven't seen the opening titles which everybody is raving about. But I have to see the film again, anyway. After buying the score and studying the 9 images in the booklet, I think there must be much more in the film than I did notice the first time.

"The Ninth Gate" #3 (after "My Dog Skip")

Two-Day Total Gross: $4,961,000

I didn't mention how very EXPENSIVE this picture looks, even though the whole thing was shot in Europe, where it can often be cheaper. (I think Polanski had the second unit steal a couple of shots in New York -- certainly the opening pan of Manhattan, but that could be stock -- unless he went to the unthinkable expense of rebuilding that block in Greenwich Village for less than three minutes of screen time. Brrr ... no wonder there were so many investors ... eighty or ninety different companies have their names on the screen before any of the artistes even get mentioned ...)

NP: THE BLUE LAGOON (Basil Poledouris) (or maybe this one's Vangelis too ...)

Good night, all. Cole, I hope that the spectre of Mr. Goldenthal does not tonight choose to haunt your hopefully pleasantest of dreams.

I think I have a pretty good idea who "the Girl" is...........

And from your postings above it sounds as if the movie has only just opened in the US a few days ago?

There are TWO engravings featuring Ms. Seigner -- the FIRST one we see (and I think we see it only once); and the LAST one you mentioned. Their meaning is almost, arguably, opposite (which, I think, is why they appear First and Last.)

There's also an engraving featuring one of Jose Lopez Rodero's twins, in the shape of a Cupid-like angel, and a Johnny Depp-like figure with a goatee about to be decapitated (Polanski goes so far here as to insert a marvelous, hilarious shot of Depp stroking his own bearded chin, trying to figure out what this picture means.)

Oh, there's much more. I do need to give this one another shot, and take notes next time. A LOT is going on in this one.

However, I find it interesting that I saw the movie several weeks before it opened in the US. I didn't realize it really is a European picture, and sometimes we have to wait months for US pictures.

To paraphrase Ernest Borgnine at the end of WILLARD: Who the hell is Prodrimides?

NP: Aaron Copland - Rodeo
Saint Lois Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin (EMI)