Sundance 2020: NINE DAYS:

When I first read the summary of Nine Days on the Sundance Festival App, I was wildly intrigued.

“What if being born is not the beginning but the goal? In a house distant from the reality we know, a reclusive man named Will interviews prospective candidates—personifications of human souls—for the privilege he once had: to be born. Five contenders emerge. During the course of nine days, Will tests each of them, but he can choose only one. The victor will be rewarded with a coveted opportunity to become a newborn in the real world, while the others will cease to exist—nine days is everything they’ll ever experience.”

To me, it sounded like an existential drama that touches upon the big questions of life, making you wonder what comes before and after life – I love it when films try to challenge the way we think about the metaphysical. Add to this the amazing cast: Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong, Bill Skarsgård, Tony Hale, and others – it immediately made it to the top of my most anticipated films of the festival.

I almost missed the screening because I miscalculated time, and ended up having to run to the premiere – but boy, I’m so glad I did.

The Beauty Of Being Alive

The story of Nine Days is subtle and steeped in kindness. The film explores the rediscovery of the joy of life and being grateful to be alive, finding and appreciating the beauty in small things (like the feeling of walking on the beach with bare feet), which I think many of us often lose sight of with the many distractions and pressures constantly surrounding us.

Will (Duke), the selector, has lived a life previously and while the story only hints at what he experienced throughout his life on Earth, we can safely assume he experienced trauma and didn’t live a happy life. He is obsessed with making sure his selections live a good, happy life, and is shattered when one of his selections appears to have committed suicide. He has an urge to figure out what happened to her and why she did what she did, and in the meantime, he has to find a soul to replace her.

His search is dominated by the need to find a soul tough enough to deal with the struggle that is life on Earth. The souls are presented to him, each one with his or her own personality – Zazie Beetz‘ Emma being the odd one out. She doesn’t quite participate in the nine-day-long selection program and constantly challenges Will, clearly making for a breath of fresh air in the little house on the other side.

Will has a friend, Kyo (wonderfully portrayed by Benedict Wong), who helps him with the selection procedure and provides much of the comedic relief. Kyo, Will and Emma share a larger number of scenes together, and between the three of them, they have great chemistry. Beetz and Wong are electric in their roles; Duke however, transcends everything. For most of the film he is morose, yet ever so subtly, his attitude starts to change. When it’s time for the grand finale, the release is palpable, and the monologue it ends on is so magnificently and purely portrayed by Duke.

Nine Days has a slow start – the first half hour or so the scenes linger; sometimes they are uncomfortably slow. Yet, it adds to the otherworldliness – the sense that time is experienced differently on the other side. Other elements that add to this otherworldly vibe are the music (composed by Antonio Pinto) and the cinematography (by Wyatt Garfield).

The score is one of the best I have heard in a long time, powerfully underscoring the bigger moments of the film but just as powerful in how small it is in the moments of reflection. The score pulls on the heartstrings as much as the story does; it’s a perfect guide. The cinematography is equally ethereal – ranging from symmetric medium shots, lighting Will as to give him a halo – to wide shots of the Utah salt plains outside of the cabin placing the story in a strangely uninhabitable world.

Choose A Moment

Throughout the film I was struggling to contain my tears (and failed horribly at the end), and I don’t want to spoil too much, but I want to highlight one particular element of the film and that’s the “moments” that Will recreates for the souls. He goes at great length to create something special for them, without getting anything in return – and Kyo tells us he’s the only selector who does this. The two most prominent themes in Nine Days are kindness and appreciating the beauty of life, which are most strongly communicated through these “moments”.

The cinematography and editing (by Jeff Betancourt and Michael Taylor) in these “moments” are sublime; the way the moments are created using screens and projections (this will make sense when you see the film), and intercut between what the souls see and what we know they experience in a basement, is truly sublime. Additionally, the lighting here is of a fitting celestial nature – these “moments” are truly an amazing technical feat in how they are translated to the screen, and yes, they will make you cry.

I have very few complaints about the film –  I keep going back and forth on the length of the film, wondering if this would’ve been served by a shorter runtime (sitting at 124 minutes), or if the lingering scenes did sufficiently contribute to that ethereal vibe. On top of that, I have questions of a more existential nature in regards to the “other side” in the film, as some things didn’t quite click for me. They’re questions I would love to debate with others who’ve seen the film.

Nine Days: Conclusion

Nine Days is Brazilian director Edson Oda‘s feature debut, and he is off to an amazing start. I am very excited about this new voice in cinema – Oda‘s meditative, poetic voice is truly very hard to compare. Nine Days will be sure to make you think about life, what’s beyond, and who is watching.

I frankly can’t wait to see what Oda does next, although I will wait patiently as this team first picks up all the awards this year. It would be very well deserved.

As of yet, Nine Days has not yet been sold as it only premiered two nights ago (and even the cast and crew hadn’t seen the finished film yet), but undoubtedly it will be, soon. Once it gets theatrical distribution, make sure to catch it in cinemas so you can be fully immersed in the visuals, and so you can feel Antonio Pinto‘s music vibrate in your body. And just a friendly tip: bring plenty of tissues.

Nine Days premiered on January 27, 2020 at Sundance Film Festival.