AFI FEST 2020: Nine Days
afi fest 2020Of all the questions that plague the human experience, one of the largest remains the concept of life itself and what comes both before and after. Cinema has a long tradition of being used as an outlet to explore these questions and express the emotions that accompany them, with the newest meditation on the subject coming in the form of Edson Oda's feature directorial debut Nine Days. Following a quiet man named Will (Winston Duke) who has the duty of interviewing a number of souls hoping to be born into the living world, the film offers a unique and worthwhile interpretation of these events that is just as moving as it is creative.
The immediate thing to stand out from Nine Days is how fresh the film feels. Making both his directorial and screenwriting feature debut, Edson Oda starts off running with a confidence that elevates the film overall. Crafting a unique world with its own rules and ideas – all of which are rooted in deeper metaphors and contexts – the film's premise is nothing short of genius and incredibly impressive. The film is thoughtful and smart with how it introduces the audience to its world and the rules that make it up, answering any questions the audience needs to be answered in a natural and effective manner. To have such a unique concept for a setting be so well executed and crafted is impressive for any filmmaker, but the idea that this is coming at the start of someone's career is near unbelievable and immediately makes Edson Oda one of the brightest new voices to watch out for.
What makes this setting so impressive isn't even the uniqueness and creativity within it but the weight that it holds. As a meditation on life, Nine Days is incredibly powerful and thoughtful. The film doesn't claim to have all the answers but instead engages its characters in a dialogue that pushes the conversation and drastically increases the amount of nuance found within the script. In the same sense of a project such as Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, the film thrives in its quiet complexion, never giving the audience an easy answer or holding their hands. This is a film that, though completely accessible, requires engagement from the audience to fully form the conversation it is hoping to have.
Whilst the craft from a screenplay and directing standpoint is undeniable, the acting from the ensemble cast within the film is equally as impressive. Winston Duke has never impressed as much as he does within Nine Days, offering a methodical and quiet role that carries not just many layers but also a true honesty. His character is immediately put into a complex situation as he both has to sell the uniqueness of the film's world while also serving as the gateway for the audience to understand it, but Duke impresses wonderfully and always delivers with what the film requires of him. On the other side of the film stands Zazie Beetz, who also is given a dramatic spotlight not necessarily seen in her career up to this point. Her character of Emma is the one who has to push back against Will in a way that feels natural and valid without feeling forced or cliched. Just like the audience, she is new to this world and is the one to engage with it to find the deepest nuances the film has to offer. Just like Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz is nothing short of incredible in this role blending thoughtfulness with attitude in a masterful way. On the sidelines, those like Bill Skarsgård, Tony Hale and David Rysdahl also bring this world to life and give their own complex performances that enhance the overall film and its conversation in a natural yet clearly supporting sense.
Also similar to The Tree of Life, the technical aspects within Nine Days is nothing short of masterful. The production design from Dan Hermansen is the hidden key for the film's world to hit the way it does, creating a sense of familiarity with just enough off to cause an uncanny sensation to flood into the audience. The physical world is a perfect blend of reality and fantasy, which sets the tone beautifully for the thoughtful meditation on reality which the film carries out. The cinematography from Wyatt Garfield stands as easily his best work to date, with multiple stunning shots that also play with this world visually enhancing the overall setting. Finally comes the score from composer Antonio Pinto, which carries its own sense of artistry and craft.
Perhaps most impressive of all is the honesty within the film. So many times, films like this that look for the answers of life will feel pretentious as empty as they engage in a conversation with no answer, yet they want to look smart and come to some grand conclusion or at least appear as they do. Nine Days at no point feels like this; from the first frame of the film, the world and how it works sucks the audience in and the film best of all has the confidence to give answers to what it can and admit when it doesn't know an answer. The dialogue is rewarding and the film overall feels worthwhile. Where this would be impressive and immediately jump up in the conversation of best films of the year coming from any filmmaker, it cannot be expressed enough how impressive this is as a feature directorial debut.
