'Nine Days' A Review

Nine Days is a spiritual drama about Will(Winston Duke) who is an arbiter of perspective souls. When one of his former selectees, who he monitors via multiple television screens, passes away a group of newly formed souls comes to him in order to be evaluated for a chance at life.

Duke gives an incredibly restrained, thrumming performance. Compassionate, repressed, emotional, paternal, maternal, the whole gambit. He slowly, deliberately builds this utterly compelling, totally magnetic character without any flashy acting, just patience and honesty. It's really astounding and culminates in one of the best scenes of the year. The support cast, all with challenging roles as they are in essence pre-gestational beings, are all wonderful with a kind of uniform simplicity and naivete that works but doesn't distract or prevent them from differentiating their various characters. Zazie Beetz, Bill Skarsgård, Tony Hale, David Rysdahl, and Arianna Ortiz all play the perspective souls and though Beetz and Skarsgård have more of the focus the others contribute equally. Hale brings a necessary and breezy humor, Rysdahl is the over-eager student, and Ortiz the romantic. It all inexorably weaves together into a real surprise that packs a punch.

Visually striking if again, simple. Will's home is in the middle of the desert and that is pretty much where all the action of the film takes place. Even so its very beautiful and very effective. Particularly a number of practical theatrical sequences used to impart an experience to perspective souls, these moments look incredible and are almost magically transportive. The soundtrack is eerie and emotional without being overwrought or indicative. The 90's set dressing make the house pleasingly tactile but also appropriately out of time. For the bigness of the idea its all very remarkably assured.

Inspirational, moving, and emotional with an award worthy performance from Duke. The premise itself may be a barrier of entry for some but it is well worth the commitment.

Currently available to rent on most VOD platforms.

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