Films

Nine Days – 5 Stars

ABLIISTRERING experience, that takes a strange concept, courts exposition sparingly, and ultimately delivers a truly emotional and revelatory time in the cinema.

Will (Winston Duke) is a reclusive man, obsessed with a series of point-of-view videos playing on an array of old televisions in a prairie house in what is seemingly the middle of nowhere. He watches them and makes notes, ever vigilant.

When one of the people on the screen kills herself, however, we fi nd out a little bit more about Will, as he begins the process of interviewing souls for a chance to be born into her place.

Aided by his similarly angelic / string-pulling friend Kyo (Benedict Wong), he works with a group of fresh souls to determine who, in his opinion, is right for the world.

His own time in the world led him to believe that anyone down there can’t be too good, and has to be tough enough to survive, so the fi rst few days of the nine days given for the assessment period focus on Will trying to identify which of Kane (Bill Skarskgard Maria (Arianna Ortiz), Mike (David Rysdahl), Alexandr (Tony Hale) and more are strong enough for this spot.

But it is latecomer Emma (Zazie Beetz) who throws him off course, and as they journey through the nine days together and get closer towards a fi nal decision, Will fi nds Emma’s insatiable appetite for all that is kind and good about life is addictive; and is perhaps thawing that icy cynicism he acquired in his own time on Earth.

Directed by Edson Oda, Nine Days plays out in a very ‘trust us, you’ll work it out eventually’ sort of way. It doesn’t beat you around the head with exposition up front, instead allowing you the time and space to work your way into this world. In that way, it also undoubtedly may leave viewers confused, particularly in the starting moments but also ultimately there are likely to be nuances that one viewer picks up over another.

That’s also sort of the joy in this piece–we’re discovering the story not unlike Emma unravelling the joys of life through the array of screens Will makes her watch endlessly.

It’s a beautiful story, told in a way that makes it feel real and grounded despite its fantastical nature. Ultimately it leads to an emotional climax that is earned, and truly gut-wrenching in its eff ectiveness. Such an ending isn’t necessarily sad, moreso bittersweet, and there’s a lot of joy and perspective to be gained out of the narrative of this fi lm.

On display here is some of the best acting you will see in cinema this year, and across the board every single actor knocks it out of the park. Of course, it’s Duke and Beetz who make the greatest impression however.

Zazie Beetz brings a sweet yet strong willed character to the front, adding believability to the most dreamlike qualities. Her emotional cocktail of friendship, romance and utter confusion plays so well on screen, it’s easy to understand why Will would be shaken by Emma.

Winston Duke gets a gorgeous role in Will, being able to span between emotionless, rage-fi lled, theatrical and ultimately joyful in the one character, and cements his place as a leading man.

In the end, Nine Days is the sort of fi lm that is tough to sell, because the narrative and the surprises around that narrative are diffi cult to convey. It’s the way the story is told, the experience of watching it unfold on the big screen, that is truly unmissable.

Reviews by Jacob Richardson Creative Director | Film Focus www.filmfocusau.com

Jungle Cruise–4 Stars

Jungle Cruise feels a lot like Pirates of the Caribbean, and while it doesn’t have the iconic lead performance that fi lm did to turn it into an instant classic, it’s still a hell of a lot of fun.

LILY Houghton (Emily Blunt) is determined to track down the Flower of the Moon. While her brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall) distracts an explorer’s scientific society, she sneaks backstage and steals a fabled arrowhead from under the nose of Prince Joachim (Jesse Plemons), a nefarious German.

Lily and MacGregor travel to the Amazon, where they get a ride upriver in search of the immortality granting Flower from Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson).

But Wolff is not all that he seems, and his prodigious knowledge of the region is matched only by his talents for cheating, swindling and deceiving his clientele and enemies (vaguely Italian Paul Giamatti included).

Nevertheless, if Lily and MacGregor want to get the Flower before Prince Joachim and an undead Spanish conquistador Aguirre (Edgar Ramirez), they’ll have to turn the uneasy alliance with Frank into a strong friendship.

It’s tough to not make comparisons to other, classic adventure movies when watching Jungle Cruise. There are defi nite comparables with Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones, along with a host of lesser siblings, sequels and ripoff s.

Jungle Cruise never really does anything to distinguish itself from its ilk, but it also never feels unwelcome or anything less than upbeat, enjoyable fun.

Blunt is spectacular as Houghton, a combination of Keira Knightley and Harrison Ford. Her character is saddled with a romance that she has to frankly carry pretty heavily, but also gets a tonne of time to deliver competent adventuring and ingenuity throughout.

Johnson pushes his acting limits in certain areas of this fi lm, and not always successfully, but for the most part he is a fun addition–a dad-joke-cracking, mammoth hustler, who has secrets of his own.

While he may struggle to carry the romantic elements of the plot off , his wisecracking and sidelong glances during schemes and the like are good, and his action chops undisputed. Whitehall, meanwhile, cracks jokes and provides comic relief.

Giamatti pops up in a ridiculous role, Italian accent fading in and out depending on the moment, and shoots for the rafters with a swaggering performance. Plemons and Ramirez both make a meal out of barebones villain characters, but Ramirez in particular feels hard done by.

Visually there is a lot to love here, and for kids in particular it is a colourful, fantastical adventure that evokes memories of the Disneyland ride the fi lm is based on. From a family perspective, the only concern is that it’s a little long–at 2 hours and 7 minutes, even those of us in the media screening room were fl agging.

Jungle Cruise is overly long and has some lacklustre elements without a really iconic hero performance, but it’s a welcome return to the adventure genre.

For kids, this will be a lot of fun on it’s own, with a lot of jokes, some beautiful visuals and a swathe of good performances. For adults, this will hit on a lot of the same levels, while also evoking a strong sense of nostalgia around the adventure classics that paved the way.

Reviews by Jacob Richardson Creative Director | Film Focus www.filmfocusau.com