REVIEWS
“If pressed, many cinephiles would admit a magnetic attraction to truly magnum opuses: whether crafted by Tarr, Rohmer, Rivette or Syberberg, the mere existence of such titanic features or multi-film cycles suggests an important artistic event. There’s nothing quite like the exhilaration of discovering a huge project that in cinematic terms reaches for the extra-wide narrative/cinematic embrace of THE BROTHER’S KARAMAZOV, Proust, even INFINITE JEST. But does anyone work with that kind of scope in contemporary American cinema? Meet Rob Nilsson, who with very little self-promotional zeal has spend the last dozen- plus years creating a fascinating collection of exquisitely shot digital features under the umbrella of 9 @ Night… a sprawling black and white tapestry of separate but overlapping feature narratives that encompass a broad character scroll of homeless, hustling and bourgeois types in San Francisco and environs.”
– Dennis Harvey, Film Comment, Sept./Oct. Issue, 2008
"Rob Nilsson's latest entry into his nine-film saga is called "Attitude" and it bristles with it. The film and the ones that preceded it stemmed from his workshop with homeless and street people, professional actors and all-comers in San Francisco's Tenderloin District. They make up the cast and they are mesmerizing performers, with faces, stresses and strains that cannot be faked. Characters appear as dominant in one film, then fade away into bit parts to emerge large in others later. Ninety percent of the actor's I've ever met could study and learn from these performances. Shot in an edgy, black-and-white mode, reminiscent of John Cassavettes and his relentless pursuit of character revelations and human truth, this film hooked me from 'go'. Days later, I could still feel the barb of it in my neck. See it."
– Peter Coyote, Actor, Author, Political Activist
"Wow. ATTITUDE really burned itself into my brain. Some kind of white hot hyper real hallucinogenic fever dream. There has for sure never been another film like it. Not in this country. Holy shit. When can we choose some dates?"
– Matthew Seig, Manager, Pioneer Theatre
"Nilsson's films are beautiful, exciting, imaginative, unfamiliar – and outside of that, very good."
– John Cassavetes, Director/Actor
“He is an innovative master who is in the prime of his career- spinning stories with the ease of a grand jazz master such as John Coltrane or Miles Davis.”
– Mark Fishkin, Executive Director, Mill Valley Film Festival
“A Masterwork.”
– Ray Carney, Film Critic, Author of books on John Cassavetes, Carl Dreyer and Mike Leigh
“Your film Signal 7 is one of my most favorite films ever and as far as I'm concerned, you are one of the most important American filmmakers in history, one of 3 or 4 of the most important American directors still living.”
– Andre Puca, Film teacher, Emerson College