"Nine Lives" is a collection of related short stories, each a snippet from a woman's life, each shot in one uninterrupted ten-minute take. Remarkably, this never becomes a gimmick; the skillfully writing and directing make the restriction feel essential to each story. A woman in prison (Elpidia Carillo, "Bread and Roses") struggles to maintain some kind of balance despite her circumstances; the ex-wife (Amy Brenneman, "Judging Amy") gets a cool reception at the funeral of her ex-husband's second wife; a mother (Glenn Close, "Dangerous Liaisons") and her daughter (Dakota Fanning, "War of the Worlds") have a picnic at a graveside. Each story deftly escalates the emotional circumstances; only one story feels at all forced. The acting is superb throughout--hardly surprising from a cast that includes Sissy Spacek ("In the Bedroom"), Holly Hunter ("The Piano"), Aidan Quinn ("Benny & Joon"), Molly Parker ("Deadwood"), and many more, all superb and clearly relishing the opportunity to perform such a long and complex scene (most movies rarely have more than thirty seconds without an edit). If there's a criticism, it's that the stories are almost unrelentingly serious; anxiety, melancholy, yearning, and regret are thoroughly explored--a little more humor might have provided more contrast and variety. Written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia ("Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her"), who shares with his father Gabriel Garcia Marquez a fascination with interconnected lives. "--Bret Fetzer"