Dark premise drowns in whimsy in '9th Life of Louis Drax'
Plenty of movies feature precocious children, but Louis Drax (Aiden Longworth) is one of the less believable.
Would any 9-year old boy in 2016 write threatening letters on a typewriter?
In the mystery "The 9th Life of Louis Drax," Louis so far has survived eight accidents. The portrayal of these accidents is so twee, it would make Wes Anderson's eyes roll.
The boy's narration is so precious that it's hard to care when he plunges into the sea in his ninth accident, after which his abusive father, Peter (Aaron Paul), disappears and is suspected of pushing Louis.
Yet, the truth is more complicated.
Adapted from a 2004 novel by Liz Jensen, the film is a benign departure for director Alexandre Aja, who specializes in horror movies such as the 3-D remake of "Piranha."
Louis might have plunged into the sea, but Aja drowns this dark premise in whimsy and forced childlike wonder.
"9th Life" revolves around an unlikable child, and the adults who surround him aren't much more believable, from his ineffectual mother, Natalie (Sarah Gadon, who was much better in "Indignation"), to a doddering child psychiatrist (Oliver Platt) to Dr. Allan Pascal (Jamie Dornan), a specialist in pediatric comas who falls in love with Natalie.
Despite his brusque manner, Peter might be the film's only sympathetic character, because Paul's performance is the only one in the film that resembles a human.
Dornan fares especially badly, his line readings flat and his facial hair tailored in a way that makes it seem as if the filmmakers would have preferred to cast Mark Ruffalo, whose aw-shucks persona might have made this work.
Yet, Dornan never makes his admittedly underwritten character real, oddly coming closest when he channels the thoughts of a 9-year-old boy.
"The 9th Life of Louis Drax" throws childhood fantasy, adult melodrama and a quasi-scientific thriller at the viewer, and none of it sticks.
Early in the film, Louis explains that he was clinically dead for two hours.
By the time it's over, that seems like a fate more easily endured than this movie.
“The 9th Life of Louis Drax”
★
Starring: Aiden Longworth, Jamie Dornan, Oliver Platt, Aaron Paul
Directed by: Alexandre Aja
Other: A Summit Premiere release. Rated R for language. 108 minutes