Nine Days

If we're lucky, a couple of times a year we get a film that on face value may not appear to be anything truly special but upon watching casts a magical spell over willing viewers to create something noteworthy and memorable, in 2021 one of those such films is Edson Oda's moving debut feature Nine Days.

Much like the Nicolas Cage starring Pig from this year, a film that managed to become much more than just another Nicolas Cage film or a budget Taken with hooves, the Spike Jonze produced Nine Days for all intents and purposes seems like a small film that could be a nice way to pass some time but from the moment Oda's beautifully constructed fantasy drama begins, there's a sense that you're in for something outside of the normal, something unique and something that feeds the soul within.

Following Winston Duke's (never better than he is here as a broken but kind hearted man) reclusive and softly spoken Will as he goes about his job monitoring people's lives on small TV screens in front of him and interviewing prospective souls for vacant positions to become a living breathing human, Nine Days concept may ask viewers to give up their prejudices but for anyone willing to go along with Oda's ode to what it means to be human and the gift that is everyday living, this unique and touching experience may just be the type of film that continues to linger on in your memory and even change the way you view your own human experience.

Shot with a keen eye by cinematographer Wyatt Garfield and scored with grace by famed composer Antonio Pinto, Nine Days is a complete all round feature package lead by Oda's impressively refined direction and a collection of great performances from Duke, the radiant Zazie Beetz as prospective human Emma, Benedict Wong as Will's only real friend Kyo and some nice little supporting turns from Bill Skarsgård an Tony Hale as some of the other souls Will must choose as worthy to be gifted life in the world we call our own.

We're never told exactly where Nine Days takes place or why things are as they are (particularly why VHS tapes seem to be the go to for Will's job) but really none of that matters as the joys you will discover when watching Oda's film and the learnings both his characters and we as viewers have through the films constantly engaging run time ensure that this is a gripping, moving and heartwarming tale filled with some of the most affectionate and touching material you could hope to find in a film.

Final Say -

A wonderful debut from Edson Oda who has marked himself down as a director of note with his efforts here, Nine Days is an unforgettable little film about the big things. Providing a beautiful viewer experience, Nine Days is one of 2021's best and a film deserving to be discovered by a bigger audience than it was afforded upon release.

5 bike rides out of 5.

This is a really "different" story and in the DVD extras we find the writer-director was inspired by a suicide in his own extended family. Not knowing anything else one might expect an environment of glass and white walls, images of beings dressed in long flowing robes, observing people via some form of advanced technology unknown to the real world.

Instead we see a person, once alive and named Will, in what seems to be an old house in the salt flats of Utah and observing people on 15 or 20 color TV sets from the 1980s. He takes notes and by the number of days in the notations some are approaching 30 years of age. Some lives are recorded on VHS tapes. Then something tragic happens and he must interview a number of souls to pick one to become a human on Earth. For those who are rejected it is the end of the line, they will never get another chance. The process will take nine days.

I'm not sure how to think of this story, perhaps best as an allegory of our own lives. How we go about our lives, how we make decisions, including decisions of morals. There is no question the movie makes one think and my wife and I enjoyed the almost 2 hours of viewing. However in reality is will be quickly forgotten.

At home on DVD from our public library.

As you contemplate this film -- and you will -- is that is if all films were like this, had the same high standards of scripting, acting, direction, editing, then maybe the world itself would be different too.

This really rubbed me up the wrong way, on a matter of principle, because it's just too close to its source material, while adding nothing. This is 'After Life' by Kore-eda, my favourite film, only this 'visionary director' inversed the premise. Which ultimately makes little difference, it's still an exploration of what constitutes a meaningful existence on this earth.

It's beyond homage. Masquerading and marketing such plagiarism as a breathtakingly unique, original indie film (and fooling the press) is so much more insidious to me than the inevitably over-schmaltzified remake once-proposed in the 00s.

'Nine Days' takes the setup, the tone, the limbo setting, the bureaucratic elements, the interviews, the metaphysical questions, the down-to-earth quality, even the analogue VHS tapes and lovingly-crafted staged sendoffs. Even the minor plot developments were tonally the same. Zazie Beets and Benedict Wong are great, but performances become overwrought towards the end. The cinematography is beautiful. Yet in every aspect of actually feeling something, this pales in comparison to After Life. Much like when a knockoff design company changes a couple of small things on the product it's copying to avoid a lawsuit, but the final product isn't nearly as good as the original, this film doesn't provide anything approaching the quiet emotional resonance After Life does, instead descending into overwritten quasi-philosophical discussions which left me cold.

I don't mean to take the experience away from those who found it meaningful but it angered me most because I love cinema, I love unique voices, and I can't stand lauded frauds. When this guy's taking the Marvel money in a couple of years' time, Kore-eda will still be evolving his genuinely-authentic craft.

After seeing this movie at Sundance, I made my way up to the stage so that I could shake Edson Oda's hand. I had to do it because I felt like I was going up to shake Orson Welles's hand after watching "Citizen Kane." I told him I had watched movies all my life and I believed this was the best movie I had ever seen. He looked shocked by that comment but thanked me. He hasn't been around long enough to be arrogant and condescending, I guess. Obviously, Nine Days strikes different people differently. I enthusiastically encourage you to see this movie to find out how it strikes you and I can only hope you have the exquisite experience it was for me. I am absolutely certain that Mr. Oda has created a masterpiece that will be much more highly respected in the future. I can hardly wait to see his future creations but, if he never makes another, he will have accomplished a life's work with this one.