Session 9

United States

2001

100 Min

Color

2.35:1

English

Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
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PROD Dorothy Aufiero, David Collins, Michael Williams

SCR Brad Anderson, Stephen Gevedon

CAST David Caruso, Stephen Gevedon, Paul Guilfoyle, Josh Lucas, Peter Mullan, Brendan Sexton III, Larry Fessenden

An asbestos abatement crew wins the bid for an abandoned insane asylum. What should be a straightforward, if rather rushed, job, is complicated by the personal histories of the crew. In particular, Hank is dating Phil’s old girlfriend, and Gordon’s new baby seems to be unnerving him more than should be expected. Things get more complicated as would-be lawyer Mike plays the tapes from a former patient with multiple personalities, including the mysterious Simon who does not appear until Session 9. —IMDb

Director

Brad Anderson

Brad Anderson (born 1964) is a film director. A director of thriller and horror films and television projects, he is best known for having directed The Machinist (2004), starring Christian Bale, as well as producing and directing several installments of the FOX science-fiction series Fringe.

Early life

Anderson was born in Madison, Connecticut, the son of Pamela Taylor Anderson, a community services administrator. He is the nephew of Emmy Award-winning actress Holland Taylor. Before he began his film career, he attended Bowdoin College, where he majored in anthropology and Russian. He then went to London to finish his film education before returning to Boston.

Film career

Early life

Film career

His films have varied from Sundance Film Festival audience favorites (and romantic comedies) Next Stop Wonderland (1998) and Happy Accidents (2000) to darker films such as Session 9 (2001) and The Machinist (2004), starring Christian Bale. He was inspired to use the Danvers State Hospital for Session 9 because he drove past it every day. His work on the psychological drama The Machinist, his most notable film to date, has helped earn Anderson a cult following.

His two most recent films were the well-received Transsiberian (2008), a thriller starring Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer, and Ben Kingsley, and the horror film, Vanishing on 7th Street (2010), starring Hayden Christensen, John Leguizamo and Thandie Newton. Notably, both Transsiberian and The Machinist were funded by Anglo-German production companies.

In 2002, Anderson was a member of the dramatic jury at the Sundance Film Festival. At one point, he was also one of the candidates to direct the sequel to Paranormal Activity.

Television work

Anderson has directed numerous episodes of Fringe as well as two episodes of The Wire.

Future projects

Anderson replaced Joseph Ruben as director of Bold Films thriller Jack in May 2010, and cast John Cusack for the lead, who has since been replaced by Liev Schrieber.

Anderson will direct The Living and the Dead, based on the novel of the same name by Robert Tinnell and Todd Livingston.

After working together on The Machinist, Anderson and Bale currently plan to collaborate again on an adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s novel, Concrete Island. —Wikipedia

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doltcrow

21Apr13

Too long for an end that an average movie watcher could predict in the first twenty minutes.

Sam Everett

13Jan13

It's unfortunate that there were a couple of CSI cast members in there, preventing me from taking the movie too seriously. Concept was interesting, but the ambiguity of the nature of the main antagonist (trying to avoid spoilers there) added an element of the supernatural I didn't enjoy. A few cool scenes though, more of a "might as well watch" movie.

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robotkathleen

29Dec12

it's nicely made and thoughts are given lots of room to wander in the reality it's creating and the wider one it's reflecting - imo that's the gold quietly offered, easily missed, i did the first time, a few more viewings and now i get so much out of it. it's subtle, simple, unpretentious, tidy, with an appropriate pace, so much atmosphere, beautiful textures, sounds, so much sadness.. and that location. zomg.