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Nine Days and a Lifetime Acclaimed film Nine Days examines the fleeting gift of the human experience By Ca ro l Bada r acco Padge t t
E very single moment that you smile, cry, laugh, argue, sing, shout, peacefully sit in silence, or slump in despair is, quite frankly, an inestimable gift. One that another soul might heartachingly long to embody if only given the chance. “For me, what was important about this film was the idea of duality within life—that grief can come in hand with joy,” says Zazie Beetz, who stars as Emma in Nine Days , when Georgia Hollywood Review caught up with her at the August 2021 premiere of the modern-day masterpiece at AMC Phipps Plaza in Buckhead. An existential drama executive produced by Spike Jonze, Nine Days was released in summer 2021 by Sony Pictures Classics. “It’s not mutually exclusive, and to be in both places is what it is to be balanced, and what it is to be human,” Beetz adds. The directorial debut of LA-based Edson Oda, a Japanese Brazilian writer and director and Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab alumus, Nine Days first pre- miered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020 to high acclaim. Alongside Beetz, its cast includes Bill Skars- gard, Tony Hale, Benedict Wong, and Arianna Ortiz. The premise: In a quiet craftsman-style house alongside an expanse of wind-blown beach lives an austere, methodical man, Will (played by award winner Winston Duke), whose job is to vet unborn souls for the chance at life when a vacancy opens up on earth. On a series of TV screens, Will watches the everyday lives of countless people until one day a favorite of his takes her life behind wheel of a car. Devastated, Will must do his job of interviewing unborn souls to fill the vacancy. Five souls come to him and are each given nine days in which to go through a series of interviews and tests to prove their suitability for the chance to experience life. In a series of situations presented to them, the souls express how they would conduct themselves and react when faced with various human circumstances. The four souls that Will does not choose will simply cease to exist. But first, he asks each one not selected what moment they have witnessed in the lives of others that they most loved and would like him to replicate for them before they depart. For one soul, it’s time spent enjoying the wonders of a beach—the sand, wind, waves, water, vastness. For another, it’s a bike ride down the side roads of a beautiful town, wind in hair, gazing on the trees and shops, and listening to people strolling down the street. But for each soul not chosen, it is universally a tearful and softly frantic acceptance of the fact that life is never to be theirs.
David Rysdahl and Zazie Beetz
Jash’d Belcher, event organizer
our very existence is a complex mystery, a nearly random, mystical chance among a sea of infinite possibilities and potential outcomes. A rare and precious treasure that the human mind struggles to endure and comprehend, in shining glimpses and secret realizations, and can never fully grasp before it’s over. For actor David Rysdahl, who plays the part of vulnerable soul Mike, the film’s mental health message was an important reason he was drawn to the script. “I read the script and I was crying,” he notes. “It was, in a way, like [the experience of ] 2019. I live with anxiety and I like to be reminded how beautiful this life is—and how to be present.” At the end of the Atlanta screening hosted by HBCU Power/Datari Turner Productions, Morehouse College Film Department Chair Stephanie Dunn led a panel discussion on Nine Days and the state of mental health today. The discussion’s panel included Beetz, Rysdahl, and Dr. Shawn Garrison, PhD., of the Morehouse School of Medicine, who weighed in with individual experiences and professional assessments, respectively. In closing, Beetz offered up three gifts she hopes Nine Days viewers will carry away: “Hope, peace, and reflection.”
One soul in particular, Beetz’ character Emma, surprises Will, both trying his patience and making him see life—and most importantly, himself and his own past life—as it is and was at one time on earth. Flawed. Beautiful. Heartbreaking. Exhilarating. Painful. Joyous. And always fragilely fleeting. To say that Nine Days carries a “meaning-of-life” message is accurate, but it leaves out the fact that the film leads its viewers to an understanding much richer—that anxiety and I like to be reminded how beautiful this life is—and how to be present. ” “ I read the script and I was crying,” he notes. “It was, in a way, like [the experience of ] 2019. I live with
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