“The 9th Life of Louis Drax” is appropriately titled, not only because it went through many incarnations before its arrival in theaters but because it seems to contain the ghosts of many films within its 108 minutes. Released first as a 2004 novel by Liz Jensen, this story of a profoundly accident-prone boy was greeted with high if occasionally confounded praise. The late director/writer/producer/genius Anthony Minghella immediately bought the rights but died before he could complete an adaptation. His son, the moody-broody actor Max Minghella, eventually took over the project, and wrote a screenplay that has been directed and produced by French horror director Alexandre Aja.
That death and horror that surround this film’s inception extends to its content, for we meet the titular Louis (Aiden Longworth) when he’s already fallen into a coma after falling off a cliff. That the child is unconscious does not curtail his natural chattiness, however, and so we learn about the mysterious circumstances surrounding his accident. Continue Reading →
