Inside a remote home in the middle of a desert, a man sits in front of a wall of TVs, watching. He's not binge-watching the latest streaming series. He's watching lives, people's lives, play out before him in real time.
Who is this man, and where does he get this feed? His name is Will, and he's a sort of guardian angel for those on his screens, because he's the one who brought them to life. Will is a decider of which souls get a chance to live, and his process is examined in writer-director Edson Oda's supernatural drama "Nine Days," which plays out like a ruminative, live-action version of Pixar's "Soul."
Winston Duke ("Black Panther," "Us") stars as Will, a measured, soft-spoken, gentle man who is rattled when one of the people he ushered into the world takes their own life. What didn't he see, what clues did he miss? He doesn't have much time to mull it over, because the sudden vacancy means there's a slot available for a new life, and he interviews five candidates vying for the position.
Among them are Alexander (Tony Hale), Kane (Bill Skarsgard) and Emma (Zazie Beetz), whom Will tests in various ways to find out if they're the best person for the job by presenting them with moral quandaries and analyzing their responses. If they're not chosen, Will grants them one wish, one experience so they can briefly taste life. It's only Emma who sees him performing these acts of kindness, and challenges Will on his own personal experiences, reminding him what it was once like to be alive.
"Nine Days" — the title comes from the length of the soul-interviewing process — is classy and clean, and is as buttoned-up as Will. Duke gives an assured performance in the lead role, and Beetz does solid work as his foil, who shakes him from his complacency. The movie could use a bit of her same energy, as it often feels bottled up.
Nevertheless, Oda believes in his own vision, and he has the confidence to carry it through; it's the type of movie that has so much earnestness baked into its DNA that it could easily fall apart, but in his hands it never does. "Nine Days" is a potent look at the nature of life, and Oda gives it its beaming spirit.
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'NINE DAYS'
Grade: B
MPAA rating: R (for language)
Running time: 2:04
Where to watch: Now playing In theaters
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