Parents' Guide to Nine Days

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. The feature debut of writer/director Edson Oda, Nine Days begins with its simple, powerful setting: a modest house that seems to be in the middle of nowhere. Characters occasionally walk away from the house, and the land looks like it stretches on forever. It feels like an isolated way station, maybe in the center of the universe. Will (what better name for someone in charge of choosing life?) never lets on why he asks the questions he asks and is forever reiterating that there are no "wrong" answers.

But rather than being frustrating, this is constantly intriguing. The other characters, like us, are forever trying to figure out the situation, and what exactly to say or do -- but there's no right answer. They're all likable, and they all seem like good candidates, so Will's choices, again, seem arbitrary. The only thing that's sure in Nine Days is that Will feels guilt over the fate of his pick Amanda, and that guilt pushes up against everything else in the movie. When he makes his eventual realization -- followed by an exuberant recitation of Walt Whitman -- it has a visceral impact. A weight has lifted, and life feels full of possibility. This is a beautiful movie that's shrouded in mystery but also in hope and appreciation for all we're given.