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Nine Days Movie Review

Nine Days is a 2021 indie drama film directed by Edson Oda and starring Winston Duke and Zazie Beetz. It’s a very disappointing movie that could have been so much better.

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“Good memories, bad memories,

they’re all just the same right now“

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A man interviews five unborn souls to determine which one should be given a new life on Earth, with the unchosen ones facing oblivion. This was a terrific premise full of great potential for emotional and/or sophisticated storytelling, but the result only proved to be that in sporadic bursts while most of the movie was downright boring.

Winston Duke was very good here in a role that proved to be his most mature so far after a string of blockbusters. His performance here was surprisingly competent. But Zazie Beetz steals the show as by far the most interesting person of the group and all her scenes are excellent. Others all pale in comparison to these two, which is unfortunate as the overall cast was so good.

While the first half of Nine Days is suitably intriguing and even thought-provoking in a couple of superb discussions about spirituality and life, most of the second half was a waste of time. Not only was it very dull in its slow pace, but also repetitive in structure and even overwrought in terms of emotion and dialogue that was strong before but became too on-the-nose here.

The technical aspects are also nothing to write home about. Clearly made on a very low budget, both the cinematography and the score are subpar. The directing from Edson Oda isn’t all that great, though his writing skills fare better. Still, he mostly failed to execute on his admittedly superb premise, leaving me in the cold and bored very quickly going in.

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Nine Days is a disappointing indie drama that had such a terrific premise full of potential that was solidly realized in its somewhat interesting first half, but the second half was very dull in its slow pace and quite repetitive in structure. The dialogue is fine as are a couple of its acting performances, but the directing and writing needed to have been better.

My Rating – 3