The Ninth Configuration

1980 philosophical dramedy

Rating: 15/20

Plot: A new psychologist arrives at an American castle being used as a sort of experimental asylum for inmates who are Vietnam veterans and who may or may not actually be crazy. Among those inmates--an astronaut who chickened out at the last minute, a guy adapting Shakespeare's plays for dogs (because somebody has to do it), and a guy who thinks he's a superhero. As the medical physician and army guy at the asylum try to keep order, the quiet new psychologist seems like he could have a few bats missing from his own belfry. Oh, snap!

It took me a long time (half the movie) to even figure out what I was watching here. A more surreal, Cuckoo's Nest rip-off? A comedy? A mysterious drama? Something else? The first half of the movie is syrupy, and there's really not much of a recognizable plot for the longest time. Things are interesting, but they almost seem interesting in a too-manufactured way--the inmates and their obsessions and non-sequiturs are almost too goofy at times. I loved some of the dialogue ("I think the end of the world just came for that bag of Fritos I had in my pants pocket" may be the best line I've heard all year!), and a lot of the more philosophical stuff sort of sneaks up on you and somehow manages to not be pretentious or tossed in at all. In fact, the main theme I grabbed from this (the idea that belief in science requires just as much of a leap of faith as a belief in a deity) seems pretty fresh to me. The climax is brutal and might go on for too long and there are some unfortunate moments that date the movie, but this is definitely one of those movies that I might really like more after a second viewing when I can pick up on some of the foreshadowing that must have been in there. The setting (a strange bulky castle with all kinds of weird sculptures) was definitely cool. I'm surprised that I had no recollection of this film even existing because it seems like something that should have been mentioned to me at some point.