Looking at 9 days
The running gag is that they are looking at 9 days of Albert Brook's life. But they look at a lot more than 9 days. Especially when you take into consideration the montage of him having "accidents". Can anyone explain this?
shareThe 9 days were 9 key days in Daniel's life that the 'prosecution' wanted to focus on to show that he still hasn't conquered fear. The prosecutor even mentioned that he's had several lifetimes to straighten that out. Now, as for the montage, she was just showing stuff he screwed up but IMO that was a bit unfair as none had anything to do with fear.
shareMaybe I didn't make myself clear. It's establshed that they are going to look at 9 days. But they look at more than 9 days. Why?
share
I always thought that it meant his "trial" would be nine days long, hence, he was looking at nine days...
Just once, I'd like someone to call me sir without adding 'you're making a scene' ~H Simpson
No, there is even a line in the film that says that all trials last 4 days. In those 4 days, they can look at as many days in your life as they want. The implication is that the more days in your life they are looking at, the more likely you will be sent back. During the four days at Judgement City, they are looking at 9 days in Daniel's life. The guy who ran the strip clubs by the airport and "made a lot of money in adult books" has to look at 15 days of his life. Julia's trial is only looking at 4 days of her life.
shareBump. I'm still looking for an answer. Did I miss something?
shareAnswer: In Actuality, they only looked at a few days. Let's review the prosecution's case:
Daniel as a kid not standing up to the bully.
Daniel preparing for his job interview with his wife and his subsequent caving at the first offer given to him.(You can probably count this as 2 days)
Daniel not wanting to invest in Casio as recommended by a friend.
Daniel being afraid to sleep with Julia in Judgement City(at this point it appeared that Susan(I think that was her name) forewent the rest of his earthly days in favor of showing this).
The montage.
Diamond's counter days:
Daniel as a toddler watching his parents argue.
Daniel's snowmobile accident.
Daniel splurging on a 1st class ticket to Hong Kong.
The montage wasn't days per se but Susan's examples of his fear and as I stated, those were all acts of a clumsy person not anything to be fearful about.
If this doesn't satisfy you then perhaps write to Albert Brooks for more clarification.
Thank you for your detailed answer. I waited 4 whole years! Wow.
I think the only problem I have is with the montage of all his clumsy accidents. They didn't all happen on one day, so showing them all would constitute a lot of days. The internal structure and rules of the film are violated for the sake of a a funny joke about him having clumsy accidents. It hardly ruins the film, but I wanted it noted.
I feel your pain. I love this movie, but I never understood the whole "9 days" thing. I still don't think I do entirely. Plus, the trial lasts for 4 days. We see maybe ten minutes of each day... what happens the rest of the time?
Finally... When making the film, the 4 day long trial was probably changed at some point because Rip Torn's line about the length of the trial is dubbed.