Cinema helps audiences unravel the many layers of life and understand what existence essentially means, providing a glimpse into things often overlooked. Certain films, such as Kore-eda Hirokazu’s After Life and Pixar’s Soul, help transport the audience into realms beyond their comprehension, particularly those that delicately hinge between life and death. Edson Oda’s feature-length directorial debut, Nine Days, follows a similar premise, wherein souls after death compete for a fresh chance at life, whilst parsing the meaning of being alive. Thoughtful and hauntingly beautiful in style and treatment, Nine Days emerges as a sublime slice of cinema that sincerely tugs at the heartstrings.
Carrying out a quaint, solitary life at a beautiful home in the desert, Will (Winston Duke) watches over the lives of those he has selected over the years, noting every detail of their everyday existence. Being an interviewer and selector of lives best suited for rebirth, Will carries out his duty with utmost dedication, looking into the multifarious vignettes of the lives he chooses. However, after the sudden death of Will’s favorite soul Amanda (Lisa Starrett), he must conduct a nine-day interview process to select the best candidate in Amanda’s stead. The cheerful and warm Kyo (Benedict Wong) assists Will in the selection process, although it is hinted that the former had never experienced life before, imbuing the character with a sort of otherworldly wonder.
While a touch of the supernatural looms over the entirety of Nine Days, this is not a film that is keen on peeling back the layers surrounding the mysteries of life after death or the elusive machinations of a limbo world. Instead, what Oda chooses to focus on is surprisingly human: what makes a soul eligible for a new life, and what indeed are the parameters of a life brimming with happiness and promise? Amanda’s death haunts Will’s every movement, as the 28-year-old violin virtuoso had never exhibited signs of depression or suicidal tendencies, but had ultimately made the decision to die by suicide via a deliberate car crash. This understandably shatters Will as this reopens his repressed wounds, his misgivings regarding his judgment, with the enormity of his decisions weighing heavily upon his psyche.
Should he choose the tender-hearted and artistic Mike (David Rysdahl), the empathetic-but-firm Maria (Arianna Ortiz), the laidback and easy-going Alexander (Tony Hale), or the nihilistic, yet emotionally balanced Kane (Bill Skarsgård)? Although Will manages to conduct the interview process with controlled aloofness throughout, the arrival of Emma (Zazie Beetz) cataclysms the cracks within Will’s soul, exposing a deeply emotional, vulnerable man within despite believing that she “does not fit” due to her unique perspectives on human existence and her purely optimistic, emotionally driven responses. Apart from being an odyssey on human vulnerability, Nine Days celebrates the little moments that are most often taken for granted.
The tactility of everyday experiences, such as the sensation of eating a peach, the sudden downpour of rain on a sunny day, the immense beauty of the act of walking on a sandy beach, sharing a tender moment with a loved one, and so on prove to be more meaningful than they are often believed to be. Nine Days celebrates the intense sensuality of existence, while not disregarding the abject cruelty that often accompanies it, as exemplified by Amanda’s heartbreaking fate and the relentless bullying experienced by a 14-year-old child. Winston Duke delivers the performance of a lifetime as the guarded, infinitely layered Will, displaying a range so visceral that audiences are bound to be swept away by the authenticity of his portrayal.
The other characters, especially Beetz, Skarsgård, and Hale, highlight different aspects of humanity through their measured, grounded performances, elevating the film to the ambit of a fantasy drama that overflows with heart and pathos. In terms of aesthetics, Nine Days is breathtaking to behold, be it in the form of the grained, textured shots of a cozy microcosm in the middle of nowhere, the dozen bulky televisions and VHS tapes seen throughout, or the costumes worn by Will and Kyo in this strange, otherworldly world. Nine Days might just be the most earnest and heartwarming piece of cinema released this year so far, as it is a cinematic experience that is genuinely beautiful and cathartic in nature.
Nine Days initially premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January 2020. It was released in U.S. theatres on July 30, 2021, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. The film is 124 minutes long and is rated R for mild violence and language.
Key Release Dates
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Nine Days
Release Date:2021-07-30
