9 Songs

2004 / 70 min Not Rated

9 Songs

2 lovers, one summer, and the 9 songs that defined them.

IMDb
4.7/ 10
25,771 votes
FLM.RED
—
Not rated yet · 0 votes
Watch trailerPlay here

FLM.RED / After the credits

Songs that remain and someone who has left

Spoilers for 9 Songs: Matt, Lisa and a relationship remembered in fragments.

Painted cover of a couple seen from behind at a London concert with 9 Songs and FLM.RED.
9 Songs · Cover illustration / FLM.RED
Open the recap & discussion — spoilers

British scientist Matt meets American student Lisa at a London concert. Their relationship unfolds through private time and live music, then is remembered from a distance.

Concerts as markers

The film alternates their relationship with live performances, including Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Franz Ferdinand and Michael Nyman. The concerts mark shared moments rather than explain every turn. Matt recalls them while traveling in Antarctica, whose vast landscape contrasts with the intimacy of London rooms and venues.

Closeness and misunderstanding

Matt and Lisa share intimacy, pleasure and disagreements. The film depicts their physical relationship explicitly while leaving much of their inner lives unstated. When Matt attends Super Furry Animals alone, the missing companion is noticeable because concerts have so often been something they shared.

Lisa returns to America

Lisa tells Matt she is returning to the United States. The film does not offer a large reconciliation or explain everything; the relationship remains in Matt’s memories. Because he narrates, Lisa appears in the fragments he recalls, leaving viewers to consider how much of her perspective they have actually seen.

A story carried by music

Moving between performances and private moments gives the film a rhythm closer to recollection than conventional plot. The result invites discussion of music and memory, while its explicit real sexual content makes clear adult-content information essential.

After watching

  • Did the concert footage bring you closer to the relationship or keep you at a distance?
  • What would you want to know from Lisa’s perspective?

Before watching

Adults only: explicit real sexual activity, nudity, drug use and strong language.

Keep the conversation going

Do Matt and Lisa remain together?

Lisa says she is returning to the United States; Matt later remembers their ended relationship.

The story

Overview

Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall - London's Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night's end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs.

In front of the camera

Cast

Peter Hayes

Himself - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (uncredited)

Through the lens

Images

Follow the connection

Where to go next.