''$9.99'' is a 2008 Australian
adult stop-motion animated drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
written and directed by
Tatia Rosenthal, with the screenplay by
Etgar Keret.
The film marks the third collaboration between Rosenthal and Keret. It features a voice cast of
Geoffrey Rush,
Samuel Johnson,
Anthony LaPaglia,
Joel Edgerton,
Ben Mendelsohn, and
Claudia Karvan.
Plot
The film mainly focuses on Dave Peck, who is unemployed but prefers the search for the
meaning of life to the search for gainful employment. While looking in a magazine, Dave finds an advertisement for a book that will tell him the meaning of life "for the low price of $9.99." Dave, fascinated by this, begins his journey in his
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
apartment to find the true meaning of life.
As the film progresses, stories of Dave's family and neighbours are woven in and examine the post-modern meaning of hope.
Cast
*
Geoffrey Rush as The Angel / Homeless Man
*
Anthony LaPaglia as Jim
*
Samuel Johnson as Dave Peck
*
Claudia Karvan as Michelle
*
Joel Edgerton as Ron
*
Barry Otto as Albert
*
Leeanna Walsman as Tanita
*
Ben Mendelsohn as Lenny
* Jamie Katsamatsas as Zack
* Brian Meagan as Clement
*
Roy Billing as Marcus Portman / Policeman #1
*
Leon Ford as Stanton
*
Josef Ber
Release and reception
''$9.99'' premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...
on 4 September 2008. The film was then released in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
and
New York on 19 June 2009 and then in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
on 17 September 2009. Upon release, the film earned mostly positive reviews. As of February 2019, it holds a "Fresh" score of 73% on the film review website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
with an average rating of 6.5 out of 10, according with 55 reviews. The site's critical consensus states, "Its storyline isn't as wondrous as its visuals, but ''$9.99'' has a sophistication and handmade charm that sets it apart from the animated pack."
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
gave the film 68/100 based on 15 critics giving it generally favorable reviews.
Box office
''$9.99'' took $47,300 at the box office in Australia.
''Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office''. The film's worldwide total was $708,354.
Awards and nominations
* Winner of the Audience Award for best feature at
FICCO 2009
* Winner of EXXONMOBIL best female director Award at FICCO 2009
* Winner of Anima Brussels BeTV best feature Award 2009
* Winner of the Grand Prize at Monstra Lisbon Animated film Festival 2009
The film has been nominated for the
Annie Awards for
Best Animated Feature and Directing in an Animated Feature Production.
References
External links
*
*
The Numbers
{{DEFAULTSORT:9.99
2008 films
2008 animated films
Australian animated drama films
Australian animated feature films
Australian adult animated films
Israeli animated films
English-language Israeli films
Claymation films
2000s stop-motion animated films
2000s Australian animated films
2000s English-language films
Animated films set in Australia