NINE - The Movie Musical - Review Thread — Page 6

Just a heads-up to the NINE fans that my BWW article on the previous major recordings and review of the NINE soundtrack will be up on BWW very shortly! Enjoy!



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I saw the film tonight and the best I can say about it is that it's mild entertainment.

The art direction was excellent though.

Standouts - Fergie and Penelope Cruz.

I wish they had gotten better singers than Nicole Kidman and Kate Hudson.

Federico might be rolling in his grave!

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Well, considering that to me it's one of the best musicals ever made and (to me) it's one of the worst films of the year and of the genre, I'm gonna go ahead and say no. I'm not exaggerating much. Because, afterall, it's MY opinion.

I think if I hadn't followed the progress of this movie, I would be spitting mad right now, but because I was prepared and because of all I'd heard about it being a recycled Chicago of sorts, I went in with pretty low expectations and was pleasantly surprised that I liked it as much as I did.

Yes, I thoroughly agree that Rob Marshall needs a reeducation in the movie musical genre: he needs to trust that the audience will accept characters breaking out into song in real time rather than in their heads, just like they do with live musical theatre and Disney movies. If he's so married to that concept, I don't understand why he cut the Grand Canal sequence, which would have helped the plot along a great deal and made a fantastic production number. And I don't see why Simple needed to be cut either.

I also agree that the plot was a bit choppy and that you missed a lot of character development. I absolutely loved Kate Hudson and her Cinema Italiano number, but I felt that her character was superfluous. I felt they built up Claudia enough that her brief moment with Guido made sense, but it wasn't nearly as good as the scene between the two of them that opens the second act of the musical. As for Take It All, it's not nearly as effective as Be On Your Own, but it makes a better production number, which is why it's there. If it wasn't in the capable hands of Marion Cotillard, it would have been a disaster.

I thought that it was aesthetically stunning. I also loved that they brought in bits of the original 8 1/2, such as the screen tests and the scene with Guido and Carla role playing. As everyone's been saying, Be Italian is the show stopper, and I had chills throughout the number. I loved the opening and the finale, too!

My favorite performances came from Daniel Day Lewis, Marion Cotillard, and Fergie, although I felt everyone did very well with what they were given. Day Lewis was charming one moment, with a childish glint in his eye, and then tortured the next, and he handled his songs well. He had wonderful chemistry with all the women, and I was really curious to know what went on in those flashes where we couldn't hear what they were saying!

Fergie was just like Edra Gale in the original film in that she was savage and animalistic and thoroughly sexy. She didn't speak a word, but her song and her body language said more than enough. I hope she gets a lot of positive attention for her work.

But the stand out for me was Marion Cotillard. Luisa is my favorite character, and Cotillard made me love her even more. Her rendition of My Husband Makes Movies was beautiful and vulnerable, while Take It All was so raw, and the love and resignation that permeated her book scenes was heartbreaking.

Like wickedfan, I wonder how this film will hold up over time. I have a feeling that people are going to forget about it once the luster and the buzz has worn off. The story is not as "fun" and doesn't scream musical theatre like Chicago. I wouldn't classify this as the Nine that people should remember for all posterity, but it could have been a lot worse, and I'm looking forward to owning it on DVD.

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Will NINE be a box office bomb

Well boxoffice.com is predicting Nine to finish in the number 8 spot this weekend with about 9 million. That seems about right when you factor in the negative reviews, the tough competition at the movies this weekend, and the fact that it's only playing in 1400 theaters.

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3. Be Italian, well sung, but - why does every "sexy" number need chairs! Also, tambourine much?

That might have been an homage to the original number, which had a tambourine dance.

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Oh that makes sense then. I preferred the homage to the revival, of Guido walking across the couch.

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Updated On: 12/25/09 at 01:58 PM

"That might have been an homage to the original number, which had a tambourine dance."

And the rest was an homage to Mein Herr. Once I'd like to see something that's, oh, I don't know, not an homage to anything, but original :)

"Fellini's film doesn't have plot, much character development, or motivation. But the musical does. "

Would you give me a description of the plot, since I didn't see the show.

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Updated On: 12/25/09 at 03:34 PM

Brick, given the content of so many of these posts, your impression would seem correct, but it doesn't match my experience with the film. There never was much plot to this show (and the criticism of certain numbers' "pointlessness" because they don't advance the plot seems small-minded to me)and the numbers - except for the new ones - have not, to me, been largely recontextualized. I feel what's going on is that many film critics, with no history of the stage show, are unimpressed with the original score and many theater fans, beholden to their sense of the original, are disoriented and disappointed. The film of Nine owes much more to the film 8 1/2 than the stage show and this shift has left many in both camps unimpressed. I enjoyed it. The craft and glamour bewitched me.

This was my first true experience with "Nine." And the only emotion I could muster throughout and following the film was "meh." I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. I just didn't particularly care about anyone or anything that happened at any point during the film.

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I will say this - The orchestrations are gorgeous. I keep listening to a few songs on the soundtrack just for them.