Written and directed by Edson Oda
Starring: Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong, Bill Skarsgård, and Tony Hale
MPA rating: R
Running time: 2 hours 4 minutes
Number of tears you’ll shed: Thousands
In (more) theaters August 6

by Jaime Davis, The Fixer

Have you ever had a moment where you suddenly realized you were alive? And that, hey, this whole living thing, like right now, is pretty amazing? I think for many, we don’t have these experiences often enough. We get bogged down by the silly machinery and minutiae of everyday life – comings and goings, running here and there and everywhere, balancing work and life and work/life balance, maintaining connections with those we hold dear. Sometimes the whole life thing gets forgotten – we have Things To Do and People to See and Emails To Send and Papers to Push.

It all reminds me of, and you’re not gonna believe this, a moment on this season of Real Housewives of NYC. New “friend of” the cast and all-around exciting addition to this season, Bershan, really embodies that whole living life to the fullest thing. She opens up to Countess LuAnn and THE Sonja Morgan about the moment her doctor told her she had stage four breast cancer with only three months left. She decided then and there to do everything she could to truly live, for as long as possible. Now, 13 years later, Bershan says, “I woke up. I am awake.”

How many of us out there honestly feel that we’re living life truly awake?

This is just one of the many themes Japanese-Brazilian filmmaker Edson Oda explores in his feature debut, Nine Days – a quietly gripping film about appreciating the life we’re born with, tackling what we’ve been given (or not), dealing with failure, and pushing forward despite the difficult situations that present themselves.

Winston Duke stars as Will, a stoically mysterious man living in limbo, watching the Point of View of a number of different souls encountering their daily trials and tribulations via a panel of tv sets in his living room. He’s there as souls grow up, deal with trauma, go through the mundane motions, and celebrate life’s beauty. He’s a dutiful watcher, taking copious notes, tracking progress and setbacks. That is until one of his “charges”, one of his favorites it could be argued, Amanda, a gifted violinist, tragically dies in what appears to be suicide. Suddenly there’s an opening on Earth, and it’s Will’s job to pick the next soul to join the land of the living. Soon after, a number of newly born souls with a myriad of quirks and perspectives arrive at Will’s home to go through a battery of scenarios and tests to help Will make his truly difficult decision. The newborn souls are fascinated with life in their own ways, and the more they learn through their examinations, the more they want the spot.

Will is joined day to day by his friend and neighbor, Kyo (Benedict Wong), but one crucial fact separates the two: Will was previously alive while Kyo has never lived as a human. Kyo’s character provides the perfect counterbalance to Will, who struggled during his life as a talented actor who may or may not have committed suicide. Will’s own unresolved trauma afflicts his ability to rationally choose the “right” soul to take the available spot. At the same time, he undergoes a transformation at the hands of one of the newborns, Emma (Zazie Beetz), a special candidate who pushes Will towards the healing he needs. It’s a story that tackles the complexities of mental illness, trauma, life, and death in two impassioned, heartbreaking hours.

Highlighting both beauty and pain is what makes Nine Days so majestic – filmmaker Oda was inspired by his late uncle, a highly talented man who’s own pain led him to take his own life. As a result, we get the sense that Will’s character may not want any kind of “life” for himself, which is fascinating given his unique position of having to choose it for others, forced to view their lives for what appears to be eternity. And while he seems resigned to his fate, he certainly cuts a rigid, magnanimous figure amongst the wide-eyed newborn souls. For all of his irritability, there are clues that Will does, in fact, have a certain appreciation for living. When a soul reaches the end of their testing, meaning they haven’t made the cut, he offers them one wish, one opportunity to experience what life feels like, before the soul evaporates into nothingness. For one, he lovingly recreates the act of walking on a beach barefoot; for another, riding a bike down a city street. These moments are some of the most impactful of the film – if you’re anything like me, you’ll want your Kleenex handy.

Beyond the exquisite, creative script, there are other stellar components to this magical film. You may know Winston Duke from his stand-out performances in Black Panther and Us but I am telling you, this man has capital G Gravitas. Yale School of Drama-trained, Duke did not come to play – he came to slay. His performance is otherworldly, and I am saddened at the thought that this film may be too quiet to really get the audience that it, and Duke, deserves. His monologue delivery from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is one of the most electrifying and moving filmic moments of late. Zazie Beetz is a breath of fresh air as the soulful Emma, who holds her own against Duke. Benedict Wong, Bill Skarsgård, and Tony Hale also provide much-needed moments of humor and light. Antonio Pinto’s orchestral score lifts the film to heavenly heights while Wyatt Garfield’s gorgeous cinematography provides rich layers to Oda’s vision, who is quite the filmmaking talent to behold.

In the end, Nine Days wants us to appreciate what we’ve been given and not take our time for granted. The film uniquely shows us, without knocking us over the head, that life is a gift we should enjoy as much as we can: even the boring stuff, even the silly stuff, even the painful stuff, even the hard stuff. We should be more like Bershan from Real Housewives of NYC – we should all wake up.