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Nine Days – Life Before Life

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“You are being considered for the amazing opportunity of life.”

What were you like before you became you? Is there life before life? Edson Oda’s Nine Days doesn’t so much ask or answer such questions, it plays with the possibilities they present. In the process we have a chance to consider what a gift it is to live.

Will (Winston Duke) lives in a secluded beachfront bungalow. There he spends his days watching a bank of TV sets that show the world through the eyes of various people around the world. He makes notes on each, keeping his file up to date. Will and his assistant Kyo (Benedict Wong) look forward to special days in the lives of their charges. One such day an upcoming concert debut by young Amanda (a bit of a favorite of Will’s). But when she suddenly dies in an accident (suicide?), Will is devastated. But he has to get busy, because it is his job to choose a new soul to be born.

Will, we discover, has chosen all of these people he watched (and perhaps vicariously lives through) for the gift of life. We aren’t sure if he is a divine being, or just a cog in the cosmos. But having had “previous experience as a living person” he understands the challenges that life can hold. (Kyo hasn’t had such experience. His job is to make sure Will follows the proceedures and to act as a sounding board in Will’s deliberation.)

Soon a selection of new souls arrives for interviews. Each new soul has their unique personality. Some are easily dismissed, but he settles on a group of five finalists. He gives them various tests to try to determine which will have the best shot at success in living. The others return to nonbeing. But we can tell that Will’s grief over Amanda’s death is affecting his judgement.

One of the finalists, Emma (Zazie Beetz), intrigues Will. She shows up late for her first appointment. She fails to give clear answers to his questions. Yet she has an empathetic and curious character. It is hard for him to dismiss her, even though she doesn’t fit into the process well.

Oda notes that one of his influences in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s After Life (which happens to be one of my all-time favorite films. Nine Days is in many ways a perfect companion to that film. After Life is souls being processed after their death. Here is the process before birth. Oda gives a very clear nod to that film in the loving way Will gives those whom he rejects a small artificial life.

By looking at life as something that is not yet for these characters, we get to see a bit of the wonder, the pain, the joy, the hope, and the peril that makes up life. We grieve for those souls not chosen for this “amazing opportunity”, because they have been given a taste of what that could be. We celebrate the possibilities that will exist for that one soul who is chosen. And we should ponder what it means for us to have been given the lives we have.

Nine Days is opening in select theaters with a rollout to follow.

Photos courtesy of Sony Picture Classics.

Tailgate – Pride without Grace

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“The time for apologies is behind us.”

Tailgate, from writer/director Lodewijk Crijns, is a psychological thriller built around road rage (and perhaps just rage in general). What begins as a simple road trip turns into a journey into fear and danger.

Hans (Joroen Spitzenberger), along with his wife Diana (Anniek Pheifer) and their two children, are heading off to visit his parents. Even before they leave, Hans is beginning to complain. They’re running late. Every little thing seems to aggravate him. He and Diana bicker as they travel. And then he gets behind a slow moving van. Already anxious about the time, he honks, flashes his lights, and rides the van’s bumper. The van just goes slower. Finally, he gets by and begins to make up time.

When they stop for gas, the van comes in as well, and the driver (Willem de Wolf), lectures the children not to behave like their father and demands an apology. Hans is in no mood for all this. And once they get back on the road, the van is in pursuit. We already know (from a brief prologue) that the van driver is a psychopath who seems to be on a mission to rid the world of people who don’t fit his view of behavior.  His method of dealing with them is to put on a hazmat suit and shoot pest control chemicals into them.

Through most of the film, Hans and family are in a cat and mouse game as the Exterminator tracks them down. It is all magnified by a series of bad choices that Hans makes along the way. (Kind of like in all those slasher movies when people always go into the basement alone.) There are many choices that might have mitigated some of the road rage. Some we may think were fairly obvious, but still the bad choices keep piling up.

A key element that propels the story is pride (the kind of pride that earns it a place among the seven deadly sins.) The Exterminator obviously has way too much belief in his own rightness, but that is is consistent with being a psychopath. Hans, on the other hand, frequently acts out of pride, even when it is self-destructive. Keep in mind that we don’t really see Hans as very sympathetic because of the way he is acting even before he encounters the slow van. He expects the world to adjust to his wishes—not unlike the Exterminator. It’s just that the Exterminator is much more violent and aggressive in acting out that vision of the world.

For me this is a story about the absence of grace in the world. Whether by Hans or the Exterminator, grace is never offered or even seen as a possibility. Perhaps that is an outgrowth of the way pride affects the characters throughout the story. If one always assumes they are in the right and others are wrong, where is the room for grace within any relationship? For Hans, that lack of grace is seen in many little ways, even within his family relationships. As the story plays out, we see that such a lack of grace can be deadly.

Tailgate is in theaters and available on virtual cinema and VOD.

Photos courtesy of Film Movement.

Teenfish #14 ~ BLACK WIDOW!

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Welcome to Teenfish, a podcast series that lets teenagers and young adults speak about media that matters to them in their own voice. Hosted by Daniel Collins, Teenfish airs every month and invites local youth to engage the truth and lies of the shows and films that excite them.

Marvel Studio’s latest masterpiece, BLACK WIDOW, is a phenomenal solo movie about Natasha Romanoff, “a total poser”, aka Black Widow, as she confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy, and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. This month, Daniel is joined by Cat, Riley, and Jacob to discuss sexism, family, human trafficking, and some great acting!

You can also stream the episode above on Podomatic, Alexa (via Stitcher), or Spotify! Or, you can download the ep on Apple Podcasts or Google Play!

North Hollywood: Sk8 For Your Life

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Whether its skateboarding or something else, everyone has to decide who they’re going to be.

Set in Los Angeles, North Hollywood tells the story of Michael (Ryder McLaughlin), a young man on the cusp of adulthood. With high school having just ended, Michael and his friends spend the summer trying to figure out what’s next for them in their lives. While some of his friends are preparing for college, Michael yearns to becoming a pro skater. As he figures out what it’s going to take to turn his dream into a reality, his father (Vince Vaughn) tries to push him towards more tangible jobs for his future.

Directed by Mikey Alfred, this trip to North Hollywood is an enjoyable coming-of-age story that highlights the challenges it takes to break free from our youth. With a simple but effective script, Alfred takes a ‘fly on the wall’ approach to his filmmaking that feels authentic. This is not a film driven by wild plot points or overly dramatic moments. Instead, Hollywood wants to be seen as a slice of life. While some will inevitably find this type of storytelling ‘slow’, there’s a joy embedded within the story that absolutely charms its audience. 

Much of the film’s success lies within the strength of its performances. While Vaughn and Miranda Cosgrove are enjoyable, much of the film rests on the shoulders of its lead Ryder McLaughlin who turns in some good work here. As the young and impetuous Michael, McLaughlin carries himself with an insecure swagger that helps the character feel real. 

However, Alfred’s most interesting decisions come through the soundtrack as he floods the film with music from the 1950s and 60s. By drawing a sonic line between generations, he fills Hollywood with an aura of youthful innocence and exuberance. Suddenly, teenage acts of rebellion feel pure and harmless. What’s more, this simple musical decision allows the eras to blend together to remind the audience that teenagers aren’t that different now than they were then. While the styles may change with time, the desire to come into one’s own remains the same.

With that in mind, Hollywood is very much about learning what it means to step into the future. As Michael pushes towards his dreams of becoming a professional skateboarder, so too does he come up against voices who try to tell him who he must be, especially his father. Although there remains a purity within his desire to skate, his father fails to see anything but the potential downside. A construction worker, Michael’s father believes that work comes by the sweat of your brow as opposed to sponsors and fame. As a result, he refuses to take his son’s dream seriously and Michael must decide whether his passion for skateboarding is worth enduring the pressure to conform that he experiences at home.

At the same time though, Michael’s relentless pursuit also threatens to steal his soul. Despite the courage he shows while pushing towards who he wants to be, he also begins to forget who he is. With the glamour of fame set before him, Michael starts to lose sight of the people in his life who have helped him get where he is. To him, the dream is within reach but this begins to change him. As he begins to step into adulthood, there’s a natural tendency to separate from the past but at what cost? As enthusiasm borders on arrogance, Michael struggles to stay true to himself and faithful to those who have supported him.

Though North Hollywood may slip under the radar of many, there’s a lot of value in this pleasant indie drama. While Michael’s story takes place in the heart of California, his emotional journey is one that everyone goes through. As a result, there’s something universal about this heartfelt story that remains appealing. In light of this, while not everyone will want to make the journey, this is a trip to Hollywood that’s worth taking in the end.

North Hollywood is available on VOD on Friday, July 23rd, 2021.

7.24 Resurrecting BLACK WIDOW

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With the release of Marvel’s BLACK WIDOW, one of the original Avengers finally gets to tell her own story. On the run from the military, Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) is suddenly drawn back into there old life in order to wrestle with the darkness of her past. This week, the Marvel-ous team of Heather Johnson, Miriam Ibrahim and Dina Hamdieh reassemble to talk about the importance of diversity in our superhero stories, the toxicity of abuse and the relevance of hair.

You can stream the episode on podomatic, Alexa (via Stitcher), Spotify, Google Play or Amazon Podcasts! Or, you can download the ep on Apple Podcasts!

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

7.24 Black WidowDownload