You’re
being watched, so try to do something interesting. In this case, the
surveillance isn’t dystopian. It’s cosmic. Someplace outside of existence, a
lonely caretaker watches 25 lives unfold on POV TV screens, until he suddenly
has a vacancy in LA-based Brazilian filmmaker Edson Oda’s revelatory feature
debut, Nine Days, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
This
little prairie house looks like could be a location in Fargo, but
instead it is found on a plane beyond our own. It serves as Will’s
headquarters, where he observes the 25 mortals he approved to be born into life.
His only occasional contact is Kyo, he serves in some sort of coordinating
capacity for a number of such outposts. He will be visiting more frequently
while Will interviews prospective souls after the unexpected death of one of
his 25 lives.
She
was his pride and joy, but for some reason, the classical musician appears to
have taken her own life. Maddeningly, the video is ambiguous, so Will
obsessively reviews her archive, looking for clues. Regardless, he must choose
her replacement, so he begins the nine-day process of elimination with the
group of souls mysteriously summoned to the house. The top candidates seem to
be the tough-talking Kane and the free-spirited Emma. For better or worse, the recent
tragedy colors his selection, but his own experience weighs just as heavily.
Unlike most of the characters existing in this space, Will was once alive, but
it didn’t work out so well.
Clearly,
Nine Days bears the influence of Kore-eda’s After Life, both
thematically and stylistically. At the very least, you have to give Oda credit
for ambition by picking such an incomparable film to pay tribute to. That makes
it even more impressive when Nine Days steps out of its shadow and indelibly
establishes its own identity. Be warned, Oda aims for a massive emotional
crescendo and pulls it off with devastating impact. We are talking about the
full “Captain, my Captain,” getting-choked-up-in-spite-of-yourself effect here.
As
Will, Winston Duke lands a knockout haymaker punch in what is arguably the
standout performance of this year’s Sundance. It starts as a slow-boiling, acutely
disciplined portrayal of pain and anger, but when he erupts, it is deeply meaningful.
On the other end of the spectrum Zazie Beetz perfectly counterbalances him as the
intuitive and instinctively empathetic Emma. Yet, perhaps the most soulful and
poignant work comes from Benedict Wong as Kyo. It might sound hard to believe,
the those three far outshine the typically flamboyant Bill “Pennyworth” Skarsgard
and Tony “Buster Bluth” Hale portraying Kane and a more nebbish soul-contender.
Yes,
Nine Days is manipulative. Boy, is it ever, but it earns its
sentimentality through Oda’s intelligent characterization and the ensemble’s
powerful performances. This film lands—hard. It also boasts a remarkably
distinctive look, thanks to the warm, tactile work of cinematographer Wyatt
Garfield and production designer Dan Hermansen’s team. It is a stunning debut
from a significant new talent. Very highly recommended, Nine Days screens
again this afternoon (2/1) in Park City, as part of this year’s Sundance Film
Festival.
