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Nine Nights
UK 2019
produced by Veronica McKenzie for Reel Brit Productions
directed by Veronica McKenzie
starring Mary Nyambura, Malcolm Atobrah, Jo Martin, T'Nia Miller, Mark Redguard, Rizwan Shebani, Elizabeth Brace, Shante Stephenson, Deborah Colphon, Karla Simone-Spence, Trevor a Toussaint, Premila Puri, Neferti Gayle, Paulette Harris-German
written by Veronica McKenzie, music by Arhynn Descy
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Twins Marcie (Mary Nyambura) and Michael (Malcolm Atobrah) are both
athletes, and are pretty much inseparable - but they're also 16, and
Michael is starting to show an interest for girls, to an extent that he
almost misses one of Marcie's races, and running to get their in time,
he's run over and killed by a car. And Marcie even sees him lying dead in
the road - and yet, when her mother (Jo Martin) and her aunt Sylvie (T'Nia
Miller) already prepare for his burial during traditional nine days of
mourning, she flatly refuses to acknowledge he's dead, and goes so far as
to wondering why people come by for condolences, and she's really losing
it when she sees her brother's wristband on his best friend Paul's (Rizwan
Shebani) wrist - which her mother has given him.
Thing is, for the first few days, Marcia's really worried that Michael
doesn't come home to clear up the "misunderstanding" about his
death, to a degree where she almost admits to it, but then she sees
Michael in the streets and follows him to a club where she actually talks
to him - but she just can't make him to leave with her. From then on
though, her mood's very upbeat - not really fitting for a family in
mourning - until she meets Tina (Elizabeth Brace), a girl she knows
Michael fancied in school, who turns out to be a wanderer between worlds,
who leads her to Michael's dead body. That really strikes a chord with
Marcie but she still tries to drag him back into the realm of the living,
to the point where he has to "kill" himself again to prove he's
dead - which actually leads to Marcie attempting suicide. Thing is, coming
to terms with loss is really running deep with her family, and her mother
and aunt Sylvie still have issues to go through on that ...
A very compelling film about mourning and let go that really unfolds
its full power because it's not just about that but takes things onto a
metaphorical, supernatural level and creates its own parallel world to
carry its story that might begin and end in what we percieve as the real
world but has its fantasy elements to it - which really works to get one
into the mindset of the film's protagonist far beyond just the obvious,
but it also helps to make the film's story much more interesting and
engaging than just showing a bunch of people in mourning. And thanks to a
very strong cast, and a directorial effort that hits the right mark
between subtledy and atmosphere, this film really works and comes across
as a pretty powerful statement about learning to live with loss.
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