Questions of heaven and hell, souls, and humanity have been posited since the first narrative films were created. It’s well trod territory, but Edson Oda’s Nine Days has a perspective that is lacking from all that came before it.

| Jul 3, 2024

Despite its many imperfections, including feeling more like a play in the way that the characters interact, “Nine Days” works because it manages to convey abstract concepts of joy in existing, loss, pain, and death.

| Jun 10, 2024

A unique concept captured by Edson Oda, the film is led by a fantastic performance from Winston Duke and beautifully captures the idea of life.

| Mar 1, 2024

Seen through the eyes of five souls competing to be born, Nine Days is a poignant analysis of existence that reminds us of what makes life worth living.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 22, 2023

The outlook on life from the different character’s perspectives sets up great dynamics and conversations to sort through and try to find yourself in when you’re agreeing or disagreeing.

| Jul 19, 2023

There's not one wasted detail in [Edson] Oda's movie.

| Jul 19, 2023

This beautiful, minimalist existential fantasy gets its power not only from its great cast, but also its refusal to answer questions or explain things. It's content to revel in mystery of being human.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 31, 2023

A small miracle of a film, Nine Days pokes and prods at the darkest corners of the existential without ever surrendering to the heavy fetters of nihilism.

| Apr 25, 2023

For a first-time filmmaker to create so much profound beauty with such a humble story is an outstanding triumph of cinema.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 23, 2022

Edison Oda’s long-awaited debut feature is a pensive meditation on the act of playing God and the randomness of choosing what (in this case, a soul) that makes a life worth living.

| Original Score: A | Aug 16, 2022

Nine Days is a startlingly confident debut for Oda. The concepts are cleverly executed, the emotional content is first-rate, and the performances are highlights in the careers of nearly every actor involved.

| Original Score: 8/10 | May 17, 2022

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.

| Feb 22, 2022

In addition to a stunning performance from Zazie Beetz, Nine Days also features Benedict Wong, Tony Hale, and Bill Skarsgård.

| Jan 6, 2022

Does not presume to give us all the answers to time and space, but it does posit, without judgement and without pretension, what it means to live meaningfully.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 24, 2021

It's strange, stylised and a little slow, but surprisingly profound on what it takes to live a life properly.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 20, 2021

Nine Days is, in its subdued way, a profound and powerful commentary on life.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 20, 2021

Although arguably a smidge too ponderous and self-serious for its own good, Nine Days still represents a reasonably promising debut for its writer-director Edson Oda.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 15, 2021

Everything feels very human and surprisingly artistic in this simplistic depiction of 'life' before life.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 28, 2021

Here you get a double helping of philosophical. Enough to make even the most reluctant think about life as you think you know it.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 28, 2021

Nine Days is at once restrained and brimming with emotion thanks to its story and phenomenal cast.

| Nov 27, 2021