Movie Review of Nine Directed by Rob Marshall

Gerald Wright's Movie Coverage

NINE

Directed by: Rob Marshall
Running time: 110 minutes
Release date: December 18, 2009 (NY & LA), December 25, 2009 (Wide)
Genre: Musical, Drama and Adaptation
Distributor(s): The Weinstein Company (US) / TWC International (Outside US)
MPAA Rating: PG-13

When thinking of "song and dance" in theater and film, I think of six-time Tony Award nominee, Academy Award nominee, Golden Globe nominee and Emmy winner Rob Marshall. His most recent film directorial works were the adaptations of the Kander and Ebb musical Chicago (2002) and the drama Memoirs of a Geisha based on John Golden's best-selling novel. In fact, Memoirs of a Geisha won three Academy Awards.

Nine is based on Arthur Kopit's 1982 book for the Tony Award winning Broadway musical starring Antonio Banderas. This musical was derived from Fellini's classic film 8 1/2. It is a story of a celebrated Italian film director Guido Contini and his attempts to come up with a plot for his next anticipated film as he is pursued by a host of beautiful women. They all want to be loved by him, and he needs his muse to inspire him. The Federico Fillini 1963 Academy Award Foreign Language classic film 8 1/2 starring Marcello Mastroianni is the main source for this movie. It is acknowledged as a highly influential tool for the making and the theme of Nine.

Daniel Day-Lewis gives a brilliant performance as Guido Contini, a middle-age womanizing director suffering from "filmmaker block". He is stalled in his creative process and has found himself in complicated romantic involvements. His lust for life includes his wife Luisa Contini (Marion Cotillard), his mistress Carla (Penelope Cruz), his film star and muse Claudia Jenssen (Nicole Kidman), his close friend and costume designer Lily (Dame Judi Dench), an American fashion journalist Stephanie (Kate Hudson), the whore who corrupted his youth Saraghina (Stacey "Fergie" Ferguson), and his mother played by Sophia Loren.

Guido struggles to work on his film, as a series of flashbacks and dreams delve into his memories and fantasies; they are often interwoven with reality using black and white footage with quick flashes of vivid color sequences. The musical numbers and choreography sets are festive and grand, yet the more somber songs are very good. These powerful female actors give their all in their performances, and it's quite evident that they are the light that brightens this movie. All of the beautiful women sing (or in some cases are dubbed) and give fine performances. However, I found the film to be a sub-Chicago style musical that designed itself in the same format.

The self-absorbed Guido character portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis is a shallow man who is an introvert. The challenging performance by Day-Lewis gave me the feeling of disliking him as a person. Yet, I was interested in knowing what made him the man is was. Once an actor moves emotions within its audience, he is doing his job. Actually, this whole production is a collection of every actor's efforts, grandeur settings, sexually enticing costumes displayed by attractive women and a so-so decent dramatic plot. Overall, this movie is a solid collective effort.

My final conclusion is that Nine is a larger than life display of good talent projected by glitter and sparkle. Yet, it is lacking the element of a strong plot for the audience to thoroughly enjoy.

FILM RATING (B+)