source: The 9th Life of Louis Drax

The 9th Life of Louis Drax kind of caught me off guard on what the film was about or what kind of direction and tone it was trying to aim for. Understanding it is based on a book about Louis Drax (Aiden Longworth) on his 9th birthday at a family picnic. He accidentally falls off a cliff, hitting the shore in a near death experience that puts him in a coma. Dr. Allan (Jamie Dornan) tries to care for his patient, only trying to understand the accident about the boy's mother Natalie (Sarah Gadon) and her husband Peter (Aaron Paul) who went missing after the accident. The plot is best not knowing and not giving out any details or spoilers. I liked the idea that it was following on a boy's perspective. Yet, not every pieces of detail is revealed. But slowly pieced together, especially Louis is one estranged kid, who is prone to accidents every year of his life and survived them. Is it all a coincidence that Louis accidents were connected? But the disappointing thing about the direction on the plot, even once the twists are revealed. It was not once satisfying, once the plots mystery pieces are put together in the final act. Talking about the tone of the film, which was quite all over the place. The film starts out like a fantasy film about a boy's journey through his life and how he was prone to accidents even from the stupid choices of sticking a fork in an electrical outlet. But after Louis falls and goes into a coma, the tone switches to a crime drama with the investigation if it was domestic abuse on his parents struggle with their marriage. Then, a bit of a supernatural thriller with Louis in a coma following some mysterious figure that has been speaking to him about his experiences. Director Alexandre Aja was all over the place with his direction, which makes it look like he wanted to do a fantasy tone in a dark crime drama that turns out to be uneven. The beginning of the movie seeing Louis in all his accidents looked kind of cheesy. The cast all felt a little flat with their characters. Jamie Dornan, Sarah Gadon, Aaron Paul, and Aiden Longworth all gave dull performances. Now, slightly being disappointed for Alexandre Aja's direction, which his films have been going downhill. From making an intense horror film The Hill Have Eyes remake to a fun campy Piranha movie. His weaknesses seem to be the supernatural films like his last two and this. The film could have used a better balance on tone and direction. Instead, it was delivering mixed signals that it was trying to be a self-discovery fantasy film. The music score also stuck out in a mystery story that did not work. The 9th Life of Louis Drax seems like a more straight to TV supernatural drama film that's best caught on there, than paying for a rental. Otherwise, it was a boring film that had trouble with its mixed tone, dull acting, and poor direction.

On a family picnic on a cliff overlooking the ocean, 9- year old Louis Drax (Aiden Longworth) falls over the cliff and ends up in a coma. His mother Natalie (Sarah Gordon) says the father Peter Drax (Aaron Paul) pushed Louis over the cliff. The police and doctors are searching for the truth about what happened and Peter Drax is missing and is a suspect. We come to learn via flashbacks and his narration that Louis Drax is a very injury prone child. Doctor Perez (Oliver Platt) believes the boy is harming himself looking for attention. Then the letters arrive seemingly written by Louis Drax, but how can that be when he is in a coma? The letters tell about things that only Louis Drax knows and the mystery deepens. Dr Pascal (Jamie Dornan) believes something else is going on with Louis Drax. It appears that maybe, just maybe, something supernatural is going on. Now you are getting warm, but how to prove it? There are a couple twists and some may say "convoluted" but nevertheless they are there and come to light. Can you guess? Notables: A Sea Monster and a friend to Louis is the voice of Aaron Paul; Barbara Hershey as Violet Drax, Peter's mother. All in all a very good mystery - convoluted or not - and the acting by all sells it. Kudos. (9/10) Violence: Yes, but brief.. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes, but very brief

I saw "The 9th Life of Louis Drax", starring Jamie Dornan-Anthropoid, Fifty Shades of Grey; Aaron Paul-Central Intelligence, Need For Speed; Sarah Gadon-Dracula Untold, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Aiden Longworth-The Unseen, Hector and the Search For Happiness. This is a little strange thriller/mystery, directed by Alexandre Aja. You might have caught one of his other films; Piranha 3D, Mirrors, The Hills Have Eyes_2006 or High Tension. I called the movie strange because there is all kinds of things going on that involve symbolism and I used to hate symbolism, way back when I was in school-I had problems figuring out exactly what something was supposed to mean, instead of what it just appeared to be. Aiden plays the title character, Louis Drax, a young boy that has been plagued with accidents ever since he was born. They are shown in flashback. Aaron and Sarah are his parents. On Aiden's 9th birthday, the family goes on a picnic near the ocean. Aiden falls off of a cliff into the water and is taken to the hospital, where he is pronounced dead. He is dead for 2 hours when he suddenly comes back to life. Everyone is shocked, including the doctor, Jamie. Sarah tells the police that Aaron pushed Aiden over the cliff and so he is the subject of a manhunt. That is when things start getting a little strange. While Aiden is in a deep coma, notes start to appear that are hand written, as if they were written by Aiden. Jamie starts falling for Sarah as if he were making the sequel to Fifty Shades. Other facts come to light that suggest that maybe there is another explanation for things that are going on. By the end of the movie, there are some mysteries that are resolved but then there are also some that are not-or maybe I am just too dumb to understand the symbolism, I don't know. I mean, I think I understood who the seaweed creature was supposed to be but I didn't follow the bit about Aiden talking through other people thing-was it mind powers like telekinesis or something? And if so, where did they come from? He never exhibited powers during the first nine years of his life. It's rated "R" for disturbing images, language and sexual content- including brief nudity-and has a running time of 1 hour & 48 minutes. If you like symbolism you might enjoy this one more than I did. I would not buy it on DVD. I don't think I would rent it, either. If you really want to see it, I would wait until it comes to cable.

Alexander Aja brings us a fantastic story line, developed with beautiful and even magical images that we will remember for a long time. Filled with all variety of feelings that are interwoven in any given life, dressed up with several truly beautiful and magical images, "The 9th life of Louis Drax" is a film that will not let you indifferent. I left the big projection hall, with several reflections about beauty, life, love, destiny, maturity, and caring that will remain with my inner self, most probably serving as platform for many conversations in the future, with friends and family. It is the kind of movie that triggers a reflection, and may help us to think twice in our perceptions. I particularly liked the way the director takes us through a complex story, unfolding it with mastery in the selection of filming planes, settings, time jumps and and pace. I recommend this film, as one of the best of this season!

The boy Louis Drax (Aiden Longworth) is a survivor along his life, escaping from death for eight times. On his ninth birthday, he goes to a picnic with his beautiful mother Natalie (Sarah Gadon) and his father Peter (Aaron Paul) nearby a cliff. Out of the blue, Louis falls off the cliff and is declared dead by the doctors. However he awakes immediately before the autopsy and stays in coma under the care of Dr. Allan Pascal (Jamie Dornan). Natalie discloses to the police detective Dalton (Molly Parker) that Peter, who is missing, pushed Louis off the cliff and he becomes the prime suspect of the case. Meanwhile Dr. Pascal, who is married, becomes close to Natalie. When weird things happen in the hospital with Louis, Dr. Pascal invites his psychiatrist Dr. Perez (Oliver Platt) to share his knowledge about the behavior of the boy and they disclose secrets about the Drax family. "The 9th Life of Louis Drax" is a supernatural film directed by Alexandre Aja with a unique storyline. The plot is intriguing and mysterious but the conclusion could be better and better since the twist discloses Natalie's personality too soon with the visit of Peter 's mother to the hospital. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "A Nona Vida de Louis Drax" ("The 9th Life of Louis Drax")

Not many will understand this soft murder Mystery at first.The cinematic Beauty of nature coupled with alternative classical music is misdirection at it's best.When watching a film with overtones of narration it gives one the feeling of reading a novel.More of a slow paced an intellectual film. I thought It was worth a watch, more of a female movie. Such a rare disorder, But this film had a pollyanna attitude it did not smack so hard.By submitting this review you are agreeing to the terms laid out in our Copyright Statement. Your submission must be your own original work. Your review will normally be posted on the site within 2-3 business days. Reviews that do not meet the guidelines will not be posted. Please write in English only. HTML or boards mark-up is not supported though paragraph breaks will be inserted if you leave a blank line between paragraph.

I was not expecting to like this film, but it wasn't actually that bad. I was intrigued by the promis of Jamie Dornan and Aaron Paul. Then upon viewing I still can't place where I know Sarah Gadon from, but she was fantastic. Intrigue, Murder and a weird kid makes for an entertaining movie!

The 9th Life of Louis Drax is a powerful movie that brought me flashes of Room because we have such a strong child main character and reminiscent of Patrick Ness' A Monster Calls at times. It is so beautiful in a subtle dark way that you don't really fully grasp until the end. I struggled a bit with the pace because even Louis' voice got tiresome every now and then, but the dreamy atmosphere saturated with a constant sense of suspense and mystery where you just had to know more about this kid and what happened to him kept me hooked. Louis is such a smart, perceptive, special kid, with his own voice and sense of self. You can't help but let him grow on you. There were some things I did not appreciate, such as the insta-love, but in the end even that made sense, and the twist caught me off guard, although I chided myself for not having thought of it, but the movie is that well done. Looking back you see it makes perfect sense but while watching it just doesn't come to mind. The 9th Life of Louis Drax is most definitely a unique movie that I highly recommend.

Appalling drivel. Perhaps it should be called 'The Near Death of Jamie Dornan' or 'The Attempted Suicide of Aaron Paul.' 'The Observer' described it as 'a mystery worth solving': the only mystery is how much money Mr Paul was paid for appearing as a cross between 'Swamp Thing' and 'The Elephant Man.' As for being a thriller, it was about as thrilling as three hours of the Welsh Assembly discussing Brexit. It starts like a comedy for not very intelligent 10-year-olds, and then settles in as Mills & Boon with sleepy background music.