La resurección de Louis Drax

The 9th Life of Louis Drax is a powerful movie that brought me flashes of Room because we have such a strong child main character and reminiscent of Patrick Ness' A Monster Calls at times. It is so beautiful in a subtle dark way that you don't really fully grasp until the end.

I struggled a bit with the pace because even Louis' voice got tiresome every now and then, but the dreamy atmosphere saturated with a constant sense of suspense and mystery where you just had to know more about this kid and what happened to him kept me hooked.

Louis is such a smart, perceptive, special kid, with his own voice and sense of self. You can't help but let him grow on you.

There were some things I did not appreciate, such as the insta-love, but in the end even that made sense, and the twist caught me off guard, although I chided myself for not having thought of it, but the movie is that well done. Looking back you see it makes perfect sense but while watching it just doesn't come to mind.

The 9th Life of Louis Drax is most definitely a unique movie that I highly recommend.

"The 9th Life Of Louis Drax" starring Jamie Dornan and Sarah Gadon is haunting.. with the most heart-wrenching reveal/twist-ending since "The Sixth Sense." Based on Liz Jensen's novel, adapted by Max Minghell, and directed by Alexandre Aja who gave us various horror films from "The Hills Have Eyes," "Piranha 3D" to "Horns," his latest feat, THE 9TH LIFE OF LOUIS DRAX is not designed to scare you, it's more of a murder whodunit mystery with a side of supernatural elements. The film is completely engrossing, not to mention this lead character, the kid named Louis Drax, excellently played by young talent, Aiden Longworth, is a character that has his perks, he's unlike any other kid, he's blunt. So when Louis Drax falls off a steep cliff on his ninth birthday, the police quickly blames the father (Aaron Paul) who's been missing since the incident. Jamie Dornan plays neurologist, Dr. Allan Pascal who's been trying to help his comatose patients including Louis, to regain consciousness. But there's a certain magnetic character in the room, Louis's mother, Natalie (Sarah Gadon) who carries her own secrets.

This is a film that has a twist ending, and so talking about it without giving too much away is honestly quite challenging. But here's what I'll say about THE 9TH LIFE OF LOUIS DRAX, it brilliantly puts all kinds of theories in your head as to what really happened that fateful day, you wouldn't be able to guess which one is right or who's guilty. Another intriguing part is that all the characters are flawed, not just Louis who considers himself different from the other kids. Great multidimensional characters that draw you further and further into the mystery as it slowly but surely peals its layers before it lets you see the bigger picture, because up until that point, your focus would only be on the kid, Louis. It's quite refreshing to see director Aja take on this gig instead of his usual frightfest. THE 9TH LIFE OF LOUIS DRAX is kinda of like the movie that M. Night Shyamalan never made.

-- Rama's Screen --

A movie that was released in theaters this weekend. You never heard of it? Hell, I see like four movies a week at the theater nowadays and hadn't heard a peep about it. This is kind of why I went to see it. It's an odd duck that's actually fairly original and has an intriguing mystery at its center. All in all, though, it's not very good. It has some howlingly bad dialogue and some laughable twists. Its biggest problem, though, is that the central character is the least likable movie kid since the one from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. And at least that kid had autism as an excuse. This kid (Aiden Longworth) has Little Prick Syndrome, which can only be cured by a punch to the face. Or a shove off the cliff, which is how the story begins. An "accident prone" kid, this is his ninth big accident in his nine years on Earth. This one leaves him in a coma, having come back from the other side while being prepared for an autopsy. His mother (Sarah Gadon) sits by his side and his father (Aaron Paul), the presumed shover, is on the run. The boy's doctor (Jamie Dornan) forms a close bond with the mother as he tries to figure out what happened, and how to get Louis out of the coma. Oliver Platt plays the kid's psychologist and Barbara Hershey his paternal grandmother. I was never bored, I will say that, but I was also supremely unsatisfied. Gadon and Paul are both good. Dornan is boring. Platt was best-in-show.

But very interesting film.

When I saw the poster, I thought it was going to be Sci-Fi or Fantasy. Then I read the synopsis and it seemed like a psychological thriller: Louis Drax is a problem child that gets into a fatal accident that puts him into a coma, and the doctor tending over him gets to the roots of those problems to try to wake him.

At it's basic core, this is what the movie is, a psychological thriller. It also is a mystery as we uncover what happen to put the kid in this coma. What is different, is that the movie is narrated by the kid in the coma. His child like narrative contradicts the adult content.

The voice of Luis Drax starts off the movie, telling his story of a kid prone to accidents since he was a baby. It sets a tone you can't erase as his story and how it revolves around the people around his life becomes very adult.

The tone versus the story is really offsetting at times, but does make for some humorous moments as Louis' mother gets into a relationship with Dr. Pascal, the doctor tending over him. The music layered over the film does not help because it reinforces that children's book fantasy genre that clashes with the crime drama mystery.

Aaron Paul was brilliant in the movie as Luis Drax's loving father, Peter. His tone in the movie also is more centered on the children's book side of the movie.

The only problem with the movie, is that besides the children's fantasy combining the mystery, Thriller, The movie does and has other elements that don't jump out of nowhere necessarily, but don't fit the whole story. Dr. Pascal has a background that's perfect for helping Louis Drax and others find out what happen to him, but using this is too inconsistent and turns it into the Sci-fi movie that I thought it would be looking at the poster, but takes you out of what they are trying to do.

But overall, I liked what is going on with the 9th Life of Louis Drax. The kid who plays Louis Drax tells a great tale of scandal and mystery, from the point of view of a child. it's a compelling story uniquely told.

http://cinemagardens.com

The boy Louis Drax (Aiden Longworth) is a survivor along his life, escaping from death for eight times. On his ninth birthday, he goes to a picnic with his beautiful mother Natalie (Sarah Gadon) and his father Peter (Aaron Paul) nearby a cliff. Out of the blue, Louis falls off the cliff and is declared dead by the doctors. However he awakes immediately before the autopsy and stays in coma under the care of Dr. Allan Pascal (Jamie Dornan). Natalie discloses to the police detective Dalton (Molly Parker) that Peter, who is missing, pushed Louis off the cliff and he becomes the prime suspect of the case. Meanwhile Dr. Pascal, who is married, becomes close to Natalie. When weird things happen in the hospital with Louis, Dr. Pascal invites his psychiatrist Dr. Perez (Oliver Platt) to share his knowledge about the behavior of the boy and they disclose secrets about the Drax family.

"The 9th Life of Louis Drax" is a supernatural film directed by Alexandre Aja with a unique storyline. The plot is intriguing and mysterious but the conclusion could be better and better since the twist discloses Natalie's personality too soon with the visit of Peter 's mother to the hospital. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Nona Vida de Louis Drax" ("The 9th Life of Louis Drax")