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If you have a yen for sumptuous, dazzling musicals with an array of show-stopping numbers, there's nothing in Nine you won't like. It's well staged (no pun intended) and choreographed, and it doesn't feel claustrophobic, as so many movies adapted from plays do.
Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a legendary film director whose most recent movies have been flops, and he's in the middle of a crisis on his latest, titled Italia: he has no script and no idea on how to proceed.
As he struggles to keep the movie afloat - and while production begins - Guido must also juggle the affections and attentions of the various women in his life, from his mother (Sophia Loren) to his lover (Penelope Cruz) to his wife (Marion Cotillard) to his muse/leading lady (Nicole Kidman) to a reporter (Kate Hudson) to a long-ago crush (Stacey Ferguson) to his confidant (Dame Judi Dench). The plot carries us from woman to woman, one sensational musical number after the other. Director Rob Marshall, who also directed the Oscar-winning Chicago in 2002, does a magnificent job of interspersing the songs with the actual storyline.
Now, I'm really not much of a fan of musicals - really! - but there's so much to love about this one. Each actress performs her own numbers and is so spellbinding that you'd almost think they were musically talented and not just pretty faces. Okay, granted, you wouldn't think that anyway, not with all those Oscar winners up there. But seriously, would you believe Cruz, Kidman, or Dench could or would sing? Not I. Not I! Cruz, who earned an Oscar nomination for her work here as the aggrieved mistress, is simply stunning, with the full-bodied passion and angst one would expect from a woman who wants especially what she cannot have. To say that Cruz is beautiful is to state the obvious, but here she is incandescent.
Oddly enough, the movie didn't really do all that well at the box office (although it did receive several Oscar nominations), despite that tremendous cast. I think it might be because when all is said and done, one might wonder what all the singing and dancing was all about: what was the point, anyway? Essentially, it is a way for Contini to regain his creativity and get moving on his film, by examining the effect that his various relationships have had on him. If you can accept that this isn't meant to be a linear plot like Chicago (i.e., murderess gets her due), it's a lot easier to swallow the film itself.
And amid all of the flash and glamour of the musical numbers is another treasure of a performance from Day-Lewis, who seemingly doesn't know how to be a bad actor. His conflicted, desperate Contini is both dislikable and vulnerable, an enigma whose multifaceted life is symbolized by his two-toned career.
Fun fact: the title refers to the nine films of Federico Fellini, who directed the immortal 8 1/2 (1963). It's also the age of the young Contini in a flashback number.
As I mentioned, musicals aren't really my thing, but when they're done well, it's hard not to acknowledge their awesomeness. And Nine is about as awesome a musical as you get. A perfect cast sells each number with gusto and sheer talent, not to mention no small amount of beauty and panache.
score 9/10
dfranzen70 2 August 2010
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2289353/ |
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16-12-2019 00:38:19
