What would you say in an interview if the position on offer were life itself? Edson Oda's Nine Days, a 2020 American fantasy drama, builds its whole world around that question and a solitary man whose job is to ask it.
What is Nine Days about?
Somewhere outside ordinary existence, a reclusive man works alone as a kind of interviewer. The candidates who come to him are not people yet. They are human souls, and each of them is hoping for the same thing: the chance to be born. He meets them one after another, puts questions to them, watches how they respond, and weighs what he sees, because a place among the living is not handed to everyone who asks for it. The candidates differ sharply in temperament, and their answers push back against the man's guarded, withdrawn way of looking at things. Much of the story happens in conversation, in the space between an interviewer who keeps his distance and applicants who have everything to gain from being understood.
About the cast
Winston Duke heads the cast, followed by Zazie Beetz, Bill Skarsgård, Benedict Wong and Tony Hale, with David Rysdahl, Geraldine Hughes and Arianna Ortiz also credited. Edson Oda directs. Since the premise depends on a sequence of face-to-face interviews, the film is carried largely by its performers and by the exchanges between them.
Context & significance
Nine Days is listed under Drama and Fantasy, and it belongs to the quieter end of fantasy: there are no battles or creatures, only an invented set of rules about where people come from before they are born. Films of this kind use a single imagined idea to look at very ordinary things, such as what makes a life worth wanting and what it costs to judge another person. The running time is 124 minutes, which gives the interviews room to unfold without hurry. The film is a United States production released in 2020. It was generally well received, and it tends to be recommended to viewers who like reflective, dialogue-driven stories more than plot-heavy ones. Anyone expecting spectacle from the fantasy label should adjust expectations; this is a small-scale, thoughtful piece.
Watching Nine Days on Ktime
Nine Days is available on K-Time with Persian subtitles over the original audio. The page you are reading is free; to play the film you need to sign in to a K-Time account. K-Time serves Persian-speaking audiences in the diaspora and offers a fully Farsi interface on every screen.