 ANOTHER ROB MARSHALL MASTERPIECE |
| Review Date: February 3, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Anthony Santamauro, United States |
I HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO THE BAD REVIEWS ABOUT THIS EXCELLENT MUSICAL SINCE IT WAS RELEASED. ROB MARSHALL'S CONCEPTION OF THIS BROADWAY MUSICAL IS BRILLIANT. WE ARE NOT SUPPOSE TO KNOW ANYTHING MORE ABOUT THE WOMEN IN DANIEL DAY LEWIS' LIFE. JUST THAT THEY WERE PART OF HIS LIFE AS HE GREW TO MANHOOD. NO DIFFERENT THAN THE HIT BROADWAY MUSICAL. MARSHALL EFFORTLESSLY INTEGRATES THE SONGS WITH THE DRAMA. EVERY NUMBER AND I MEAN EVERY NUMBER IS A SHOWSTOPPER AND STAGED AS ONLY MARSHALL COULD DO. THIS IS A FIRST RATE MOTION PICTURE AND I THINK IT'S BEEN UNJUSTLY IGNORED BY THE PUBLIC AND THE CRITICS. IT STANDS ALONE AS IT'S OWN ENTITY AND CAN NOT BE COMPARED WITH CHICAGO WHICH IN IT'S OWN BRILLIANT COMMERCIAL WAY IS ALSO A CLASSIC.
NINE IS A COMPLICATED AND HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED MUSICAL THAT WASN'T MEANT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY. THE PICTURE BELONGS TO DANIEL DAY LEWIS NOT TO THE WOMEN IN HIS LIFE.
MAURY YESTON HAS WRITTEN A FANTASTIC SCORE AND COMBINED WITH ROB MARSHALL'S DIRECTION IT FAR SURPASSES THE ACTUAL BROADWAY SHOW. I LOVED THIS FILM AND CAN NOT WAIT TO OWN THE DVD. BY THE WAY, NICOLE KIDMAN JUST HAPPENS TO SING ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING SONGS, (UNUSUAL WAY), WRITTEN BY YESTON AND DRAMATICALLY PERFORMS THE SONG TO PERFECTION. IT'S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO SEPARATE THE SONG FROM THE DIALOGUE. CUDOS TO MARSHALL!!!! |
Everyone Should "Be Italian"
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| Review Date: January 16, 2010 |
| Reviewer: thornhillatthemovies.com, Venice, CA United States |
I am a little upset with people who are fans of musicals. There isn't enough product to satisfy our desire and when a very good example of this genre is released, we stay away in droves. I simply don't understand why "Nine", the new musical, not to be confused with "9", the recent animated film from Tim Burton, s getting pretty unanimously bad critical reviews. I don't understand why fans of the genre are staying away.
Directed by Rob Marshall ("Chicago"), "Nine" is an adaptation of a very successful Broadway musical adapted from the Fellini film "8 ½". The film contains some very good performances and some amazing vocals and dancing from actors I didn't know could sing or dance. Add to that a beautiful and romantic period setting and you have a film that is a fitting companion piece to "Chicago".
Are fans of this genre waiting for the next Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire? Is that why they are staying away? Do you secretly desire "An American in Paris II" or a remake of "Singin' In The Rain"? That won't happen (I pray to God). As we continue to evolve and our tastes become more modern, the genres we love have to adapt and change along with us. For a long period of time, the only musicals we could see on the big screen were animated. Many of these were great and provided an avenue for talented people. Then, Baz Luhrmann managed to convince 20th Century Fox to let him make "Moulin Rouge". "Chicago", "Mamma Mia", "Hairspray" and more than a few films that should be forgotten followed this. A lot of people didn't like "Moulin Rouge" because of the frantic visual style. I loved it. "Chicago" is a bit more traditional than "Moulin Rouge", allowing the viewer to get involved in the story and characters because they take a moment (every so often) to breath. Now Marshall follows this success with "Nine".
Rome, the 60s. Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis), a very successful Italian film director is experiencing writer's block after two of his films have flopped. This is unfortunate because his longtime producer is practically forcing him to make his new film. They have a title, "Italia" and are convinced it will star Claudia Messina (Nicole Kidman), Contini's longtime muse. Even his confidant, and confessor, his longtime costume designer, Lilli (Judi Dench) knows he is having trouble, but she does her best to provide support and a nudge when needed. A set is in production on a huge soundstage at Cincecitta, but Guido is experiencing a midlife crisis and can't come up with anything to write about. When the pressure becomes too great, he runs off to a spa on the Italian peninsula and hides there, trying to escape everyone and everything. He calls his wife, Luisa (Marion Cotillard, "La Vie En Rose") and tells her he will be home in a few days. Then he calls his mistress, Carla (Penelope Cruz) and gets her installed in a nearby penzione. When his production team and producer show up at the spa, what was supposed to be rest quickly becomes a working holiday and continues to stress out the famous director. Instead, he begins to remember all of the women in his life and with each memory, comes a new musical number and an equally amusing performance by one of the ladies.
I really liked a lot about what "Nine" is trying to do. Unfortunately, I also think many of the things I like are also the same things keeping people away from the multiplex.
As Guido deals with his writer's block and all of the complications of his life, he begins to remember back to each of the important women in his life and their various influences in shaping who he has become. There are some references to Guido's history with women and the sheer number of sexual partners seems to be large, but there are certain women in his life who are important and he remembers each with fondness. As the memories flood back, Marshall begins to cut some of the most beautiful footage I have seen in a long time into the story, providing us with a biographical glimpse into the director's life. He remembers back to his childhood when he paid a loose woman to show off her private parts to a group of children. This is told through black and white footage and shows the boys running across an Italian beach. When the woman comes out of her hut, "Be Italian" begins and the story cuts back and forth from the footage at the beach to a full-blown musical number featuring singer Fergie (from the Black Eyed Peas) as Saraghina. As the musical number progresses, you begin to realize Saraghina and the many other women in the number are actually on the soundstage back in the studio in Rome, it's iconic roman arches ever present. Yet, the singers are sitting on wooden chairs and flinging sand around. It is a visually striking musical number and quickly establishes how the film will unfold.
Not only do we start to get a feeling for Guido's life leading up to this crisis, we also realize he is, in fact, remembering things that will eventually make it into the film he has to make next. His memories are showing him his next film, guiding him through the narrative before he writes it.
Later, when Carla (Cruz) arrives at the Spa, she sings the song "Guido, Guido, Guido"; cavorting around in an outfit Victoria's Secret would be smart to copy. Carla is deeply in love with Guido and dances using pink velvet ropes and silk.
Judi Dench is surprisingly good when her turn comes. As a major influence in Guido's life, he turns to her for support, guidance, a stern word when needed. She reveals a lot about her background as a fashion designer when she sings the song "Folies Bergere", about her early life designing costumes for the racy nightclub in Paris. Dancers in costumes reminiscent of the popular Parisian show dance around the same Roman arches.
Kate Hudson is also very good as Stephanie, a young American journalist in Rome writing about the director for a magazine. She follows Guido to the spa and flirts with him, the sexual tension increasing exponentially. This footage is intercut with Hudson and a slew of dancers performing "Cinema Italiano", which is, I believe, the one new number written for the film. The musical segment is a lot of fun, very fast paced and done as a tribute to the 60s. Hudson seems to be channeling some of her mom's early persona in the performance.
Marian Cotillard and Nicole Kidman are the two most personal female relationships in his life, so their numbers are more introspective and romantic.
Sophia Loren plays Mamma and it is great to see her on screen as Guido's conscience. But her musical number is least successful because she doesn't appear to be as good a singer or as comfortable singing. It is more of the "talking lyrically" type of song people generally do when they can't do a real musical number.
Overall, the musical numbers are very good. Will they be memorable enough to be remembered in a decade? Two? Three? Will Robert Osborne's clone talk about the film one day on Turner Movie Classics? I don't know. But they are fun to watch.
This is one of those films set in a very specific place where everyone has a different accent. This aspect of the film reminded me a bit of the big budget films produced in the late 50s and early 60s, the type filled with an International cast to ensure box office success around the world. Daniel Day Lewis' Italian accent is impressive and even more impressive, he sings in the accent. Nicole Kidman does an okay job playing the Italian movie star. Marian Cotillard restrains her French accent and seems to be going for a more American sound. Penelope Cruz is just herself. Strangely, Judi Dench doesn't attempt any accent other than her normal voice and her character is French. Altogether, a bit of a strange hodgepodge. I guess it's better for some to not even attempt an accent if they can't do one. Hearing the actor's normal voice helps you forget they should have an accent. If they did a bad one, you'd never hear past it.
Daniel Day Lewis is very good as Guido. At every moment, you can see and feel the world crashing in on him. Forced to attend a news conference to announce the new film, he tries to joke, to flirt, to laugh, all in an effort to hide the fact he hasn't written one word of the script yet. He basically has no idea what the new film should be about. When members of the press get close to unveiling the truth, he flees to the spa.
When he is presented with the opportunity to make a change in life, he seems close to taking these leaps, but ultimately the change seems to hard for him and he reverts back to normal. This only serves to drive his crisis.
I think it is brave of Day-Lewis to take on this role. We have never seen him sing or dance before and he does a good job with the singing. When he breaks out into song, he retains his accent, never letting it falter.
Either his dancing wasn't up to the task, or his musical numbers just weren't designed to involve elaborate dance moves. His dancing resembles what kids would do on a jungle gym on the playground. Hoe holds onto bars and swings around them in large, lazy circles and slides his feet around.
The film is set in Italy in the mid 60s. This gives the film a beautiful look; everything appears romantic and almost fantasy like.
If you're a fan of the genre, I hope you will make an effort to see this film. If we don't support these works, Hollywood will stop making them. I can already tell you the names of two producers who will most likely never produce another musical again. |
Nine Review
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| Review Date: March 7, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Craig Whittle, Phoenix, AZ |
NINE
STARRING: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren and Stacy Ferguson
WRITTEN BY: Michael Tolkin and Anthony Minghella; based on the Broadway musical "Nine" by Arthur Kopit, Maury Yeston and Mario Fratti
DIRECTED BY: Rob Marshall
Rated: PG - 13
Genre: Musical / Drama
Release Date: 25 December 2009
If Nine wasn't one of the ten best films of 2009, it sure was close. I'm not a big fan of musicals in general, but if a film is good, then it's good. Rob Marshal, the Academy Award nominated director of Chicago, has created another unique and glorious musical with a banging soundtrack.
Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Guido Contini. He's a guy who isn't very optimistic despite having Marion Cotillard for a wife and Penelope Cruz for a mistress. He is a successful filmmaker and is having trouble producing the material for his latest film. But due to his accredited past, he is able to have an entire production put into motion without even so much as a rough copy of a screenplay.
The film opens with a huge musical number that was not the least bit cheap. We meet all the leading ladies, and Guido. These leading ladies consist of Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson, Judie Dench, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren and Stacy Ferguson (aka `Fergie' for you MTV folks).
They are all leading ladies in Hollywood and the characters they portray are leading ladies in the mind and or life of Guido. Sophia Loren is his mother, Judi Dench is his costume designer, Nicole Kidman is his friend as well as a famous actress, and Stacy Ferguson plays a seductive woman of his past that he found attractive at a very young age.
The reason for the huge musical number is to show us that Guido is a man who is constantly fantasizing about these various women in several different ways. Each one of them performs an amazing song at some point in the film; usually, if not always, taking place in Guido's mind.
Guido sulks around the frame throughout the film, living off utter moments of happiness that fade away within seconds. At one moment Penelope Cruz's character does it for him, but then he loses interest and it's Kate Hudson who has his attention. His wife even manages to catch his eye for a brief moment, but it's more than anything the fact that she's enraged with his having an affair, that he finds appealing. He's a poor sap indeed, but Lewis plays him magnificently. If you have seen Lewis in even one other film, then I don't need to tell you how talented he is.
Kate Hudson is in the film for a very short time, but blew me out of my seat nonetheless. She shows a side of herself that I have never seen before, that reminded me partially of her mother (Goldie Hawn) and something else completely unknown. I can't believe that she was not nominated for her performance. As if that's not bad enough, her beautiful song `Italian Cinema' was snubbed out of a nomination to boot. Why was this overlooked? I can't be alone in thinking it was spectacular.
I can see how Nicole Kidman, Daniel Day-Lewis and Judi Dench were all able to walk away without an Oscar nomination. Not that they weren't great, but we know what to expect from them; they are three of the most talented people acting today. But how did Marion Cotillard go unnoticed?
She was magnificent as Guido's emotionally neglected wife. There is a scene near the end of the film where she has come to the realization that he is not the man she thought he was when they married. He looks at her and sees this written across her face, and it is very powerful stuff. Her songs were extraordinary and one of them received an Oscar nomination.
Stacy Ferguson doesn't really do much acting in the film, but her song `Be Italian' was very enjoyable to watch and could have very easily been nominated for an Oscar as well.
It's almost offensive that out of all the incredible actors in Nine, Penelope Cruz was the only one to receive an Oscar nomination. I think she's a pretty good actress overall; but up against Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman and especially Marion Cotillard and Kate Hudson; Cruz falls miserably behind in this film. All of the other actors brought far more to the table than she did. It's bad enough she already won last year for her mediocre performance in Vicky Christina Barcelona. Sometimes, I just don't get the get the Academy Awards. |
Gaudy & Loud
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| Review Date: December 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Doug Anderson, Miami Beach, Florida United States |
Daniel Day Lewis already played this part. Back in 1988 he starred in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, another film about a detached womanizer attempting to make some kind of existential sense out of his chaotic modern life. In that film Day Lewis's character desires two very different kinds of lives. On the one hand, he desires a life of lightness and he cultivates a no-strings-attached ethos that allows him to move in and out of other people's lives without any kind of commitment or complication; and, on the other hand, he fears the weightlessness of this itinerant existence and so he is slowly drawn into a long-term attachment that lends his life a weight that it otherwise lacks. He moves from one extreme to another, but ultimately finds no satisfactory way to reconcile his competing desires. The book, written by Milan Kundera, and the film, directed by Philip Kaufman, are comic and tragic in equal measures. I would recommend The Unbearable Lightness of Being as an alternative to Nine as it really explores the same themes in a much more satisfying way.
As for Nine, it's a big tease.
I'm a big fan of Fellini and art film maestros in general, and I'm also a big fan of Marion Cotillard and Penelope Cruz (two of the finest actresses of world cinema). I also happen to be a fan of Daniel Day Lewis (perhaps the finest actor of the last thirty years). So, despite heavy suspicion about this project (a musical version of Fellini's mysterious and moody surreal self-portrait 8 1/2 ?), I had at least four compelling reasons to see this film. Unfortunately, everything that is good about the film (the Fellini references and quotes, the aura of Cinecitta, the excitement of several rare talents working together on a potentially larger-than-life project) is compromised by everything that is second-rate (the loud and gaudy in-your-face musical assaults that feel more like homages to Tom Jones or the Pussycat Dolls than they do to Fellini, the tedious early sixties men's magazine caricatures of women as nothing more than lingerie models, the lame song titles & lyrics.)
The original 8 1/2 was at times a dialogue between Fellini's private reality and his various publics, and at other times a lyrical soliloquy--it was a profound statement about self and cinema. Although it was Marcello Mastroianni onscreen it was understood that the thoughts and fantasies were Fellini's. In Nine, however, Daniel Day Lewis is simply pretending to be a maestro but we never feel like Rob Marshall is saying much of anything through the character. The point of the original 8 1/2 was to examine artistic, identity, and social crisis in post-War Italy and the film is powerful because it documents crisis albeit in an often charming and alluring way. In Nine, Rob Marshall re-creates the look of 8 1/2 but not the feel of it nor the content of it. Rob Marshall is less interested in and does not attempt to convey the substance of Fellini's universe; what excites him is not really Fellini but Italian style. The whole film therefore feels like one of those Vanity Fair fashion spreads where fashion models strut nostalgically down memory lane in period dress. Casting Daniel Day Lewis was an inspired move because Daniel Day Lewis brings to the film something that Marshall lacks: artistic depth & credibility. And admittedly it is exciting seeing Day Lewis attempt to play an Italian director. Day Lewis is certainly very good at showing what artistic and personal crisis look and feel like; however, we never get a sense of him as a visionary director and so it's very difficult to accept him, the consumate actor, as Fellini, the consumate director. Fellini succeeded when he allowed us to accompany him as he transformed fantasies into realities and realities into fantasies. But here, on the Nine set, there is no auteur at work. The whole thing feels more like a folly than an artistic production. In 8 1/2 Fellini viewed filmmaking as an expensive folly but the miracle of that film was that out of all that folly came art. In Nine the folly never crystallizes into anything nor does it seem to be trying to: Day Lewis seems to have a good time exploiting the absurdity of the situation (he and Cruz work especially well together), and Marshall seems to enjoy tranforming a Fellini movie into Fosse movie. I suppose you could say this craziness is admirable, in a way. 8 1/2 may have inspired the original stage production but the similarities are ultimately more cosmetic than thematic. Marshall is obviously less interested in Fellini or art than he is in extravaganza and spectacle and getting away with spending other people's money (and using other people's ideas) so as far as he is concerned all that Day Lewis has to do is prowl around the sets like a trapped cat (in Italian suits and sunglasses) and he's got what he wants. When he's prowling or speeding around dodging paparazzi in his white sports car Day Lewis is an asset (and Marshall's idea of an artist); when he's singing, however, he's a liability. It's not a great performance nor even a very interesting one (it doesn't capture the imagination in the way that Cate Blanchett's Bob Dylan did a few years ago). 8 1/2 revived Fellini's career, Nine may end Marshall's; but no one can say Day Lewis doesn't look good in black suits with skinny ties.
Cotillard is the best thing about this film--both Cotillard the actress and the character that she plays in the film seem like the real visionary if by visionary we mean the one who sees and shares what they see. She's the one with voice and vision and talent to burn. When she is onscreen the film has voice and vision and soul. The problem is there is far too little of her.
If director Rob Marshall's intention was to make all of the scenes without Marion Cotillard seem superficial, and, yes, directionless, then he succeeds brilliantly.
Fergie brings the raw heat she is famous for; Penelope Cruz is brilliant as a mistress with multiple dimensions; Kate Hudson is convincing as a reporter who uses her sex kitten charms to get what she wants; Nicole Kidman delivers as a film icon weary of the icon game but all of these cameos feel like nothing more than that. All of these women are aware of themselves, they all know who they are and what they want. They are sexually free yet dependent on Guido (or at least in Guido's fantasy world they are all dependent on Guido). Why Guido Contini wants all of these women is no mystery, but why they should all want or need him is.
Each of the actresses emit momentary sparks, but only Cotillard generates and sustains any kind of heat that lasts for more than a song and dance number.
Like many Broadway musicals, this one feels more like a batch of loosely affiliated songs randomly flung together than a tightly plotted narrative with any real force. The allure of Fellini is that, however fantastic, the plots always seem natural; the films seem to have a life, an energy, a momentum and a spirit all their own. In Marshall's film however the plot feels contrived for obvious reasons (the film's a remake of a musical that is itself a remake of a film). Some postmodern irony --ie Marshall acknowledging that he is re-making someone else's autobiographical film--or some kind of explanation/rationalization as to why a classic art film would benefit from the addition of musical numbers might have helped matters a bit (although if it were done well I suppose we wouldn't need to ask). I kept thinking, hoping the musical numbers would be moments when the women asserted their own individuality, but (Cotillard's character excepted) most of these women do not want to assert their independence from Guido Contini any more than Rob Marshall wants to assert his independence from the stage show format/formula (that worked in Chicago but doesn't work here) which is the only guiding force at work here, and that's a problem that this film never finds a way to address.
Fellini treated glamour (i.e. style, film magic) as a kind of momentary or pretend grace, but it was never presented as a substitute for the real thing--hence there is always an existential void gnawing away at his characters; I think Rob Marshall is trying to do the same thing--find momentary grace in art--but, although some of the individual performances are as graceful as anything found in a Fellini (or a Fosse) film, the film itself lacks any style or grace or vision of its own. |
BE A WINNER!!!!!!!
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| Review Date: December 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Minnie and Henery Krumb, Wormwood Scrubbs |
BRILLIANT STAGE TO SCREEN - FINALLY - MUSICAL VERSION OF FELLINI'S "8 1/2" [with due respect to Bob Fosse's masterpiece -"ALL THAT JAZZ"]
ROB MARSHALL who brought us "CHICAGO" a few years ago now absolutely dazzles with this homage to Felllini's genius as well as giving us a rich, layered semi-sweet tiramisu.
OSCARS? Going to be very difficult since most of the cast either has one or a couple and the others are either nominees or will be nominees [Fergie - Wow! This girl will blow you away? Stunning - absolutely Stunning]
Not a sour note - standouts?
MARION CLOTILARD [who could easily morph into the actual Signora Fellini - Guiletta Masina] ~ Mme. Clotilard shows moments we have just not seen before - what an extraordinary artist from that simple little modest black dress into the stunning stripper bearing all. GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEE - this artist deserves continued and continuous success - One cannot take one's eyes from her when she's on screen - everyone else pales and diminishes when Marion is on screen - just her eyes alone speak volumes.
OK - JUST WHY WAS THIS ARTIST NOT NOMINATED?????
Another standout is naturally Penelope Cruz - also moments we have just not seen on screen before - another exceptionally versatile actress. GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEE
BRAVO - PENI ON YOUR NOM.
The rest? Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman [morphing movie goddess Anita Ekberg stunningly], and those lovely leggy ensemble dancers!
Crowning all of this is the eternal SOPHIA LOREN - looking even more beautiful than ever - FOREVER MAY SHE REIGN - and the mesmerizing DANIEL DAY LEWIS as the tortured Guido [how different from "There Will Be Blood" and "The Gangs of New York"]. ALSO A GOLDEN GLOBE NOD TO MR. DAY LEWIS - EXCELLENT!
SETS, COSTUMES [with the incomperable Colleen Atwood at the helm - who can miss - Ms. Atwood's choices and end-results are always impeccable - another Oscar winner!], CINEMATOGRAPHY - FLAWLESS.
Must mention the wonderful "turn" by Kate Hudson - another artist who never disappoints.
This movie is just full of so many exquisite moments taken from Fellini and lovingly recreated by Rob Marshall and his team.
NOT TO BE MISSED - DESTINED TO BECOME A CLASSIC.
Let's also take time to remember the ever-missed Raul Julia and the enchanting Anita Morris - who were/are indelible in the original Broadway Production.
SEE THIS MASTERPIECE ON THE BIG SCREEN - NOW!!!!!
THIS 2010 OSCAR NOM SEASON IS SO SO SO DULL!!!!!!
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Not Even 5
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| Review Date: March 11, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Amos Lassen, Little Rock, Arkansas |
"Nine"
Not Even 5
Amos Lassen
"Nine" is a big musical based on Federico Fellini's classic film "8 1/2". On the Broadway stage where I saw it years ago it was wonderful but something happened with its transition to film but then that is 30 years later after the original. The songs are blah and the rest of it just falls flat.
Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a beloved film director with a reputation for wonderful movies and gallivanting with women. He has hit a down point in his life and cannot come up with an idea for a new film. The sets are built, the costumes are ready and he has a leading lady (Nicole Kidman) but he is in no mood to turn the cameras on. He holes up in a hotel as painful images of his life flash before him and he decides that his problems come from the women in his life. He realizes that he may face a future without his wife (Marion Cotillard) and the only person he can confide in is his costume designer (Dame Judi Dench). He wavers between guilt and his blank mind and really wants to come to terms with himself and end his Casanova ways.
The movie turns out to be a total bore with the exception of a wonderful number with Penelope Cruz. The problem might be because Guido's journey to self-acceptance is minimalized and we do not see what he actually goes through. Day-Lewis plays him as an enigma whose problems do not seem solvable. What we do see is beautiful Italy as it wars with emotional conflict and the movie comes across as superficial. Guido begs his mother (Sophia Loren) for attention and this could have been really powerful stuff but it doesn't come across.
The cast list is impressive and tends to blind the audience until they actually see the film. Along with those already mentioned are Kate Hudson as a reporter for "Vogue" and Fergie. Fergie sings the only song that really stands out, "Be Italian".
I really wanted to like this movie but it sinks into melodrama and does not have a soul.
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They forgot the "make a movie" part; it's the play plopped directly onto the screen
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| Review Date: February 13, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Andy Orrock, Dallas, TX |
I enjoyed Rob Marshall's adaptation of Chicago (Widescreen Edition) a great deal, but this screen version of 'Nine' - a movie about a play about the difficulty of making a movie, which was adapted from a movie (you get the idea) - left me relatively cold. Marshall gives short shrift to the "a movie about..." part. 'Nine' is basically the play, pushed directly onto screen. It's a series of set pieces, plopped sequentially onto the screen. The doughnut hole in the middle is Daniel Day-Lewis, never believable as an Italian director. Likewise, Nicole Kidman's star turn stops just short of parody. Has there ever been a less-likely portrayal on screen than Kidman's breathless, coquettish take on the movie role originated by Italian great Claudia Cardinale? Her waxen, Botox-induced frozen visage is completely out-of-place.
Thank goodness for Marion Cotillard and Penélope Cruz, wife and mistress respectively of Day-Lewis' Guido. They bring real acting to the film. Cotillard, in particular, is dynamite. Her sad-eyed portrayal is wonderful. Her Oscar for La Vie en Rose (Extended Version) was no fluke win. And Cruz continues to simply pull away from the pack - Volver, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Broken Embraces, Elegy - her string of powerful performances over the past few years continue to pile up. She's the world's top working actress. |
Nine
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| Review Date: January 13, 2010 |
| Reviewer: scott89119, Whittier, CA |
| Nine is about an Italian director in need of inspiration for his next film. It's also about his saucy costumer. And his fiery mistress. And his provocative childhood. And his long-suffering wife. And his issues with religion. It is to the film's chief detriment that lauded director Rob Marshall abandoned the sleek craftsmanship of Chicago, and instead seemed to throw everything in the story up on screen at once, add in a ton of talent, and expected it to come out clean. It doesn't. Nine is a quality musical on the Broadway stage, but here is a mish-mash of thoughts, feelings and scenes that have no central cohesion. Its disappointment is amplified by its incredibly gifted cast, who here give merely adequate performances (except for Penelope Cruz- yowza). I'd like to think that the film would lead more people to become interested in an important B-way musical, but the film is just too messy and confused for it's own good and lacks the entertainment value and/or emotional heft of more successful musicals that dwarf it by comparison. Brilliant design and cinematography anyways. |
Quite simply magnificent
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| Review Date: March 10, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Les G. Solomon, NSW, Australia |
Opinion on films is such an interesting thing, no two people feel the same way about the art of
film. What's one man's poison etc...."Nine" seems to have been dividing a lot of people. Reviews
have been almost ridiculously divided, after initial positive press (mainly in "Variety") a couple of
major critics utterly trashed it. This seemed to play into a certain loathing of director Rob
Marshall, who, many in the film world resented the way a choreographer had risen from the
ranks to direct an Academy Award winning movie (ie "Chicago") Others (especially in Australia)
have been much more embracing of the film, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Sun Herald
both gave it rave reviews. More positive reviews have been turning up every day, so much so
that today a lengthy advert appeared in the paper listing quotes. It;s good to see some people
liking the film as there is much to like.
I went to the film very cynically, but it drew me into its world so much that I did something I
havent done for years, I snuggled down in my seat and stayed and watched it again. I found the
film quite enthralling, the boldness of Marshall's vision, the performances, especially Day Lewis
who completely makes Contini his own and the magnificent Marion Cotillard among the highlights.
Many of the fans of the stage show have been scathing of the movie. No one could be more fond of the stage show than I, but to film it as a stage show runs the risk of the film of the musical "The Producers" which stayed so loyal to the show that it is now viewed as little more than an ambitious filming of the stage text. Movies as we know are a different form and very few stage musicals have successfully made that transition. In only examining films post "Chicago", I can only think of two that have come close to making a strong film of a hit stage show -" "Dreamgirls" and "Hairspray", neither are really great films and both heavily flawed in many ways, but they do manage to stay faithful to the book of the musical in some way while still being movies in their own right. I personally love "Rent" the movie, with all its flaws, as it has some great set pieces and a very strong heart, but it is easy to be very critical of it. The others including Tim Burtons' failed attempt to translate "Sweeney Todd" to film, the uneven and hysterically undisciplined "Mamma Mia", the languid "Phantom of the Opera", all fail to really make the basic premise of the original text live as a movie in its own right. (In the case of :"Mamma Mia" one could argue -what text!)
"Nine" I believe makes the transition to film successfully by throwing out many of the songs and set pieces of the stage show while still holding on to the central theme of the show- that is, that for Contini to overcome his demons and his mid life crisis and understand his own womanizing, he has to embrace his inner child. This is the main theme of the Fellini movie as well as the stage show. The stage musical painted this theme in strong colours even to the extent of having the young Guido as part of most of the action and the musical numbers. He makes many appearances in the film as well and I was wondering without the two finally meeting and singing together in the final moments, how that embracing could actually occur. The final words Guido says to his little Guido in the stage musical are to give him advise to go and be embraced by his mother- "I'll be fourty and you'll be nine".
The movie ties this up beautifully without the song, we learn in the final moments that the film he is making is called "nine" it is clearly autobiographical and the little boy sits on Guido's lap and the two sail high on the movie crane as Guido calls `action'.
Yes we miss the colour and movement, the comedic touches of the stage show, the idea that Guido is going to make a musical of "Casanova" is much of the central premise of the stage musical, this would never work in film. Yet this is a more serious look at a man (now aged 50 not 40-more believable) in total crisis, the main four songs from the stage show are there, added with some nice new numbers and
a sense of Fellini and Rome that is perhaps missing in the stage show. This is film of very European sensibilities, every aspect seems to breathe the central song's theme "be Italian", which may explain why some American critics have not "got it". It will do well in Europe and I suggest better than expected in Australia. Commercially it can never be a "Chicago", its theme is too personal, its canvas too subtle for the broard strokes of a musical bathed in burlesque and murder. Yet Marshall does allow his comic and musical homages; Judi Dench resplendent in "Folies Bergere' is given her Sally Bowles moment, paying tribute to the role she so affectively created on stage, Kate Hudson deliberately cast in a production number that pays homage to the "Laugh In' go- go numbers her mother made so famous in the sixties, Nicole Kidman clearly be-decked out to look like Anita Ekberg in "La Dolce Vita". Yet when Marshall turns his eye to his real leading lady; Marion Cotillard, as the much dumped on wife-Luisa, this is when movie magic occurs. Watching her "My Husband Makes Movies" is breathtaking with Dion Beebe's camera translating her every move onto a film canvas that illuminates her every word and thought, again her strip number, gets the point across as a worthy replacement for "Be on Your Own" her stage number in this part of the story scenario.
In the stage musical Luisa leaves Guido when she sees he is making a mock musical of their own lives, in the film she leaves him when she sees the way he is handling a young starlet in a screen test, so similar to the beginning of their own relationship.
For me "Nine" is a masterpiece and I agree with one Australian critic this week who linked it to "Cabaret:" and "All That Jazz", putting it in the same company as "Cabaret" is praise perhaps a little too high, but it is up there with the best of musicals from stage shows. It hurdles the impossible gap between stage and film, but to truly love it, we must let go our memories of the wonderful way the stage musical told the story and embrace Marshall's new vision of the same story.
Let us hope this isn't the last musical he makes, he is a master of the craft, I would love to see what he would do with "Pippin", "Follies" and "Company", all stage musicals tipped to be made into movies. Let us hope the failure of "Nine" at the American box office doesn't hold back this master from what he does best. !! |
Intriguing Musical Clash of Dazzling and Introspective Elements Falls Short
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| Review Date: December 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Ed Uyeshima, San Francisco, CA USA |
While this dark-hued 2009 musical extravaganza offers dazzling star power and the requisite Italiano coolness factor, director Rob Marshall cannot seem to drive the narrative toward an engaging level of momentum. I think his 2002 adaptation of Chicago was successful because he regaled in a pulp fiction element that complemented a familiar set of songs. This time, the filmmaker is burdened by an only so-so score and a stubbornly introspective story that refuses to inspire in a too-literate adaptation of the 1982 Broadway musical hit by Michael Tolkin and the late Anthony Minghella. If Marshall heightened the surrealism going on in his narcissistic protagonist's head, it could have worked more effectively, but the musical numbers feel particularly stage-bound for an endeavor ironically dedicated to the joys of cinema.
Following the same structure as its inspiration, Federico Fellini's classic 8 1/2, the story centers on Guido Contini, a Fellini-esque director revered in mid-1960s Italy. Apparently, he is suffering from an extreme case of creative block with his latest and ninth screen project. There is a press conference to announce the production ambitiously entitled "Italia", even though there is nary a word written and only his muse attached, international screen star Claudia Jenssen. The pressure of making a landmark film takes its toll on Contini who attempts to escape to a luxurious spa resort. Inevitably, the entire production follows him to the hotel, including his devoted costume designer Lilli who knows him better than he knows himself. His sexy, neurotic mistress Carla also shows up, as does his long-suffering wife Luisa. Further complications ensue when Stephanie, an adoring Vogue journalist, expresses her prurient interest in the tortured filmmaker. Fantasy and memory cloud Contini's mind as he flashes back to memories of his mother and Saraghina, a prostitute he recalls dancing erotically on the beach when he was nine.
It's a rare enough treat to see the chameleonic Daniel Day-Lewis onscreen, and he plays Contini with the right level of Mastroianni-like wariness. He even sings his two pensive numbers - "Guido's Song" and "I Can't Make This Movie" - more than capably. However, it is the women who really share the spotlight. Looking luminous with a touch of Audrey, Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) brings depth and poignancy to the standard role of the put-upon wife. She sings two dramatically different numbers, the touching "My Husband Makes Movies" and the passionately naked "Take It All". In a role that complements her persona in a similar manner to what Woody Allen did for her in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Penélope Cruz brings sizzling gusto to her solo number, "A Call to the Vatican", all the while exposing her character's spiraling emotional desperation. As shrewdly observant Lilli, Judi Dench provides the film with much-needed grounding and has a good time with the campy burlesque number, "Folies Bergère".
The rest of the cast packs punch but ultimately feels more extraneous. Kate Hudson has little to do as Stephanie except act appropriately saucy and then unexpectedly dazzle with the go-go-salsa-driven "Cinema Italiano". Nicole Kidman looks every inch a screen star as Claudia, but sadly, her sweet rendition of the show's most touching ballad, "Unusual Way", is broken up by snatches of dialogue. It's wonderful to see the still-stunning, 75-year-old Sophia Loren as Contini's mother, but her role is little more than a cameo. Marshall gives the most "Chicago"-like production number to Fergie (of the Black-Eyed Peas) who dominates a chorus of voluptuous beauties on "Be Italian". In fact, there is so much talent onscreen, one keeps hoping for a big final production number instead of the fantasy curtain call presented. Regardless, Marshall wisely reassembles the same production team he used on both Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha - John Myhre's production design, Dion Beebe's cinematography (a little too heavy on the use of shadows), and Colleen Atwood's costumes are all first-rate. I just wish my expectations could have been exceeded. |
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