I don’t normally like coupling films together when I watch shorts mainly because I want to give films as much space as possible. As my coverage of Out On Film winds down, though, I kept thinking about how both 9 Lives and Mistakes You Make Before You Die made me laugh while both stories confronted dark subject matter. Even though both films have different styles, I think they would make for a fun double feature.
Millie Rose Evans’ 9 Lives begins with her character, Clara, getting fired from a healthy hot dog joint named Raw Dogs. Clara’s boss reprimanding her tells you everything you need to know about the tone that Evans is going for, and I was dialed in immediately. Clara follows up that experience with making an awkward toast at a birthday party before she throws herself into a bathroom to calm her anxiety. You ever have one of those days…
In the bathroom, she meets June, who is closing a deal to sell some of her bathwater for an eager buyer. Clara and June sync up almost immediately, and soon they begin an odyssey to bury June’s beloved cat, Beans, on her grandfather’s property. With June by her side, Clara’s self-examination levels out and she can remain calm with the same amount of perspective. 9 Lives has a strength in that Evans’ characters feel fully aware of how ridiculous their situations are, so they can negotiate how they tackle them in a comedic way.
Mistakes You Make is set solely on the outside of an apartment’s door as we hear the thumping of a party on the other side. Okay, it’s not a party, it’s an orgy, and director Nicole Lipp allows her characters, Lennon and Dora, to hash out their dilemma before they dive into their evening’s planned festivities.
Dora is trying to help her partner cross items off her bucket list (I won’t name what else is on the list…) and right at the top is a fun night of group sex. As they distract themselves with reasons why people put items on their list or even make up a list at all, Lipp and Jetta Juriansz’s screenplay slyly hooks us with emotional confrontations laced with darkly comic dialogue.
Both 9 Lives and Mistakes You Make feature a strong bond with a dynamic duo, but these films remind us that it’s not too late to change, make fun of ourselves and embrace life. You can bury a cat with dignity and vitruosity, and you can leave an orgy with the same exact feeling.
