Nine Days

I rated this a good 7/10 upon first watching. An already great note. But after watching this again today and paying much more attention to its small details, I have to admit Iiked it even more. It deserves a little more remarkable mark. A solid character driven drama. I hope to see more movies like this in time. Feels refreshing even if they are not that flawless. Go and see it!

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.

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.

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.

The title Nine Days makes me think of a cat's nine lives or Beethoven's ninth-symphonic celebration of life. Anyhow, the Brazilian-born, US-based writer director Edson Oda has a terrific Terrance-Malick-like ode to life with an imaginative sci-fi indie that takes us to where no artist has ever gone.

Somewhere in a limbo-like desert a few souls not yet born but in human form try out in front of Will (Winston Duke), who will decide which one deserves to be human. Among them are a sybarite Alexander (Tony Hale), a perpetually-feeling-victimized candidate, Mike (David Rysdahl), and a rationalist (Bill Skarsgard). Best of all is the free spirit Emma (Zazie Beetz), whom Will can't understand until later on in the days.

Although they are learning about "real life" from multiple TV monitors from earth private lives, what they learn in these nine testing days is all they need to know about what it means to be human. Will's baggage from real life is instructive about the vicissitudes of life and the attendant longing for permanent love.

Because the candidates are regularly asked to document the grace moments of their short lives (e.g., laughing with someone, letting sand sift through fingers), they provide us with the paradigm for a happy life: enjoy the small things. Oda even uses Whitman's lyrical celebration of himself to capture this carpe diem attitude.

As I left the theater in high spirits, I was ultra-happy to have won a spot in life thinking how difficult Oda made candidacy for his purgatory-like suffering souls. I celebrated the small things of life as well as myself.

Nine Days is an inspirational film with enough suspense and new ideas to satisfy a wide spectrum of audiences.

See it and love life. At Gateway and several theaters.