Nine Days (2021)
SHOULD I SEE IT?
YES
A moving, powerful drama, Nine Days is one of 2021’s best films.
Winston Duke is a terrific leading man, exhibiting terrific range and dramatic chops for writer/director Edson Oda to build around.
For those who complain that Hollywood, and movies in general, lack original ideas and do not take risks, Nine Days is one of the more ambitious ideas and concepts to come along in awhile.
NO
A film which can raise more questions than provide answers, which I know can drive some viewers absolutely insane.
Some have criticized the film for being all presentation and concept, with no substance or execution.
The premise of the film might appear as blasphemy to some who are more devout in their faith-based leanings and beliefs.
OUR REVIEW
Lyrical, moving, and poetic in creation, Nine Days takes a look at experiences shared, moments passed up, and memories recaptured. While that seems like a lot for one movie to tackle, first-time director Edson Oda creates an unforgettable story, balancing the power which lies in a life well lived, with the pursuit of what might be and what may never come.
Nine Days may feel to some like a live-action take on Disney and Pixar’s Soul, but Oda predates the release of the two-time Oscar- winning animated film from last fall. Having bounced around the festival circuit, audiences will finally get the chance to see a film different from any they have experienced in some time. Haunting and as heartbreaking as it is emotionally moving, the premise centers around souls being offered an opportunity to experience life on Earth.
The decider of who gets to experience human life and who does not is Will (Winston Duke). A quiet, reclusive man, middle-aged and peeking out behind slightly oval, circular-shaped frames, he spends his time working pretty much nonstop at his assigned tasks. Among them: Interviewing new prospective souls who arrive at select times for an evaluative process and conducting the logging and surveying of behaviors from livestream feeds he views of the souls he has approved for life. When someone dies, a new soul can take their place. Will must intake several candidates at a time, meaning most souls he meets never have the opportunity to experience a human existence.
Each candidate has nine days of evaluation. Will studies them, interviews them, sometimes harshly, and gets a sense of their decision-making, temperament, and reaction to the images presented to them from those same live feeds. He evaluates their notes, and attempts to get a sense for what kind of person they will be for the duration of their human lives.
Oda’s ambition for the film is bold. I can only imagine how many times this pitch and idea for a story was shot down. How do you document what it means to live a life in a couple of hours? How do you straddle the line of leaving several questions unanswered about the structure of your story, yet have the confidence to press on and find emotional resonance as we collectively learn of each soul’s particular fate?
While the film moves at a measured pace, Nine Days had me deeply invested in this world. How many Wills are there? Who has determined Will’s rubric or framework for determining who earns his final selection? Do the souls regenerate and return in different human forms, if not selected?
To ask more would spoil elements of the film that are best left to be discovered and pondered on your own. As much as any movie of recent memory, Nine Days proves itself a deeply personal story, allowing us to place ourselves within the stories depicted, shared, and recreated on screen.
While Oda deals with a somewhat morose premise, there is a tenderness we cannot ignore. And for me, this is what makes Nine Days such a special film. As the candidates watch Will’s human beings live their lives through those livestreams, beamed back into old, vintage televisions in Will’s house, we also see Will interview each soul. Each candidate has a different temperament, allowing Oda to introduce his cast piece-by-piece, shifting them around Will like chess pieces in a game of chance that truly only one of them can win.
I suppose it is human nature that we might catch ourselves rooting for one of these souls to win. Picking winners defines us as a society more than ever. Oda senses this and allows Will to create experiences for those not selected. With the help of his loyal assistant Kyo (Benedict Wong), and in some of the most powerful scenes in the film, he brings those wishes to reality for the souls not chosen. We become reminded that as we live frenzied, often busy lives as adults, simple pleasures get lost. If life is only to conquer one task after another, where is the joy? Where is the meaning?
I cannot profess to tell you that Oda answers all of these questions. For those who dismiss Nine Days, there is a collective groupthink that the philosophy is half-baked, the ideas larger and more grandiose than Oda can even come close to remotely explaining.
Maybe.
As Will grows more and more apathetic and endures rabid curiosity from Emma (Zazie Beetz), a female-presenting soul who questions and pushes back on Will’s work instead of just going with the flow, Nine Days only becomes more compelling.
Will begins to contemplate an error in his ways, pondering potential misplaced value in his judgments. As he begins to believe that he deserves a life of experiences, will the fates allow? Who decides for the decider? Or has Will simply resigned himself to a mundane existence for the duration of however long he has left?
This is, in part, why Nine Days has stayed with me months after I first viewed the film. One day we blink, find ourselves middle-aged and our youth has left us behind. Then another day we blink and realize we may very well be in the twilight of our lives, wondering whether our choices, decisions, and relationships have had any significant meaning.
Impressive production design by Dan Hermansen engulfs us into Will’s fascinating little world and those he creates for others. Wyatt Garfield’s cinematography balances wide shots and tight close-ups with a roving, exploratory eye for everything the souls are watching and witnessing.
In the end, Oda has made a film about moments: Cherishing them. Living them. Creating, making, and holding on to them. For some, Nine Days might seem depressing. Others will find the film as introspective and thoughtful as it is bittersweet and contemplative. Duke’s stunning performance hooks us and Edson Oda leaves us wanting more - in the film and story he is telling, but also in the lives we are presently living.
CAST & CREW
Starring: Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong, Bill Skarsgård, Tony Hale, David Rysdahl, Arianna Ortiz, Geraldine Hughes, Erika Vasquez, Perry Smith, Lisa Starrett.
Director: Edson Oda
Written by: Edson Oda
Release Date: July 30, 2021
Sony Pictures Classics