The 9th Life of Louis Drax

Louis has accidents – not the sort that can be cleaned up with a bit of effort but the sort that end in hospital. He has been having them for a long time. His beautiful mother appears to dote on him and then one day he has a near fatal fall from a cliff top – I mean if he is such a klutz why take him to a cliff edge – c'mon.

Anyway silly parental gaffs aside he is then taken under the wing of hunky, coma paediatrician expert, Dr Alan Pascal (Jamie Dornan) who thinks that it may be possible links that can be maintained through means yet to be understood by medical science. Thus begins a surreal, often warm and often twisted trip into the previous eight lives of the titular Louis Drax.

Now I actually quite enjoyed this it is adapted from the book – but I shall not compare the two. The cast are all above good and the special effects are both great and believable. It is a slow reveal and is the sort of film that you may only wish to see once (so go for a rental) but it is worth going for al the same.

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")

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.

"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 --

This film tells the story of a young boy who falls off a cliff into the sea, and subsequently fall into a coma. His father is missing, and the mother is understandably distraught. A handsome doctor tries to help them all, but things may not appear as they seem.

"The 9th Life of Louis Drax" is full of surprises. It starts off like a children's film, then becomes romance, then fantasy, then mystery. These elements seamlessly mix into a captivating and engaging story that makes me glued to the screen. It makes me feel differently towards each character at different points of the film, which I think of indicative of how cleverly the story is constructed. The ending is a big surprise, and I would not have guessed it at all. I will be telling my friends about this great film. I really enjoyed it.