Numerology

Maybe because there's nothing there.

Me too. I wondered if Marci Levine (one of the producers) might be related to Rick Levine (of astrology fame), which may account for something along the lines you suggest. Numerology/astrology...these things closely related? Nine a lucky number in Asia. As it happens my birthday too, hence the interest. You saw that February 9th was the date of 9's inception? It might be best to let numbers mean whatever you want, which minimises exposure to critique. But perhaps the artistic intent, if following a traditional astrological/numeric pattern, might well choose February to represent the coming of a new age. Not the new world order, but the more esoteric influence under Aquarius. We've been going through a birth-like experience for some time now, loosely endorsed by the end of the Mayan calendar (though astrologers and academics will disagree on the specifics). Anyway, timing best left to artists in this case. The film's early 20th Century tone made me wonder if it the film was originally conceived at that time. Perhaps though the period overlay was used to represent the profound turning point illustrated by the ghastly world wars we've just experienced as a species. Sinc then we've mechanised/matrixed more, not less, so what of this concept of the New Age? The so-called Age of Aquarius. Contradictions are characteristic of the Aquarian spirit I'm told. We see this in the film and all around us. On one hand mankind has become more precise and ruthless in killing, while on the other hand the search for the infinite soul inside/outside expands massively. One only has to look in a book shop to argue this point. The spiritual section of most bookshops 40 years ago might have included a few copies of the bible and pagan texts, whereas today entire sections and rooms are devoted to all aspects of mind-body-soul/spiritual development. I like to believe this is the Aquarian predisposition at work, ruled by a sometimes inconsistent but highly acrobatic mental qualities. The qualities of the mind's eye (the center of Aquarian energy). Perhaps, perhaps. I'll point to Yoga here for support. You've heard the sound and symbol of the mind's eye, up there in your forehead? It is Ohm. That symbol of a reversed 3 and additional squiggly bits sported on t-shirts and posters. We've all heard of it, seen it. Its omnipresent and, as it happens, connected to this theory of the Age of Aquarius. Few though, know. Ohm wasn't in the movie as far as I could see. It would've looked good in any expanded nod to the energy of our times. For Ohm is the sound and symbol representing the Ajna Sacral location; the same location which traditionally rules Aquarius...the mind's eye. Ohm rules the Aquarian spirit, and it follows then that such a symbol is ubiquitous in any age called Aquarius. Trouble your local yoga master and perhaps you'll find confirmation. So if indeed we are in the Age of Aquarius, on the path to a new and better way, then the symbol of Ohm in our lives sits perfectly as a deeply esoteric addition to the film. But the ages, like the invisible Dharma wheel of life, turn. So we're now in Aquarius, ruled by Ohm, and the mind's eye. It will turn to another. The sound and symbol will change. Ram, yam, lam or another tone will be ubiquitous. Ohm will be lost. Few probably will even notice. The scale is too large, the concepts too deep. It is art after all, and words are essentially dust before the vision.