The 9th Life of Louis Drax (2016), is a quirky little movie that does a very good job at discussing a very disturbing condition, which I am not going to mention because it would spoil the whole movie for you. It is basically about a little boy who’s had a lot of accidents throughout his life; even from birth. A lot of it makes him look like he’s the world’s clumsiest kid.

The way the movie starts off in the beginning, it’s easy to quickly disregard it as a silly little kiddie movie, that no adult would be interested in. But once you give it a chance, you’ll realize there’s more than meets the eye.

Louis is a 9 year old boy, who is coming up to his 9th life; where he’ll have an accident that will out do all other accidents. As he’s been having these accidents since birth, as it has been told to him by his mother, he’s come to accept his “clumsiness”, for what it is and doesn’t believe he will survive his 9th accident. They compare his near death experiences, and coming out okay, to that of a cat with 9 lives.

Unfortunately for Louis, his 9th accident doesn’t seem to be an accident at all and there’s now a race to figure out what’s been causing these accidents since he was a little baby. Throughout the movie you will constantly be reminded of his past near death experiences and come to believe Louis to be nothing more than a very clumsy kid or very unlucky.

Due to his recent near death experience, Louis ends up in a coma under the care of pediatric coma specialist, Dr. Pascal. As the movie goes back and forth and is narrated by Louis Drax himself, we get to learn the life of this 9 year old and even come to wonder what is really going on with him. We learn about his insight into his parents relationship, his relationship with his doctor; Dr. Perez, and many random things that don’t turn out to be that random as the movie progresses.

The movie has a way of bringing out certain emotions in you, as you watch the story unfold right before your eyes. You do wonder what’s really going on, and although you think you have it figured out, the ending brings you a lovely surprise.

As I said, when I first started watching the movie, I was a bit thrown off as I thought it was a kiddie movie. But, I’d have to say I am glad I gave the movie a chance. It was a bit dry at times, but it’s not an action genre, but more of a mystery/thriller which doesn’t seem like it, in the beginning. But if you give it a chance like I did, you’d find yourself watching a very interesting movie with a very interesting story, portraying a very interesting condition. There are some “ah-ha” moments, that gives you somewhat of an insight into the mind of a 9 year old boy, who seems to be older than his age but at the end of the day, is still a 9 year old boy at heart.

The 9th life of louis drax, is a movie that I give my stamp of approval. Check it out, when you get a chance, if you like quirky movies that have a twist on telling a story.

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