Cinéfest 2020: Nine Days Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Every once in a while comes a film that is best experienced when going in blind. Nine Days is arguably one of those films. Ever since premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, this original, existential drama has mystified nearly as much as it has baffled audiences. In other words, this film is not going to be for everyone as it is a subtle experience that may not provide as many answers as audiences may like but rather wants them to follow their emotions and feelings before drawing their own interpretations (though that can only go so far). Those who won’t get its message right away are surely going to be lost while the near 2 hour running time will only exacerbate that feeling. Even those who get it, this open-ended film will surely be left wanting more for better or worse. Nevertheless, its beautiful imagery, cinematography, score, and performances are all well worth the price of admission.

Nine Days is a hard film to describe but it saw a troubled man named Will (Duke) as he lived in a remote house who spent his days mostly watching the live points-of-view of a group of people as they went about their lives on a set of TVs. After the tragic death of one of his subjects leaves an opening for a new life on Earth, a group of unborn souls arrive at Will’s home to undergo a series of physical, mental, and ethical tests, over the course of nine days, to determine their viability to be born on Earth and take their place as one of his TVs or face their demise. Through these tests, the film explores what it truly means to be alive. Over the undetermined amount of time Will has conducted these tests, his standards had become increasingly strict. As a scenario with no right or wrong answers, not everyone was good enough to make the cut. However, it was clear that these rough standards came from a place of pain for which he found refuge in his work as merely a cog in the system. Inevitably, one particular soul came along to turn everything around on the normally stoic and reserved Will, a free-spirited woman named Emma (Beetz). While she was not like the others, not fitting Will’s particular mould, there was just something about her that kept her around.

As mentioned, Nine Days is a breathtakingly beautiful film in more ways than one thanks to some of the best cinematography in recent memory, full of gorgeous shots and camerawork, a terrific emotional score, and most importantly, a career-best lead performance from Duke to tie it all together. While his character certainly could have used some more character development and his overall stoic demeanour may not be for everyone, he commanded the screen both literally and figuratively and his understated and nuanced performance of a man in pain was a powerful one. Meanwhile, Beetz was compelling to watch and had some fun chemistry with Duke as Will’s existential counterbalance. Wong was also solid as Will’s friend Kyo.

At the end of the day, Nine Days won’t be for everyone but it is the kind of film that will surely remain in the minds of audiences long after the credits roll.

stills courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.