Variety:
'Nine -The movie'
Guido Contini - Daniel Day-Lewis
Luisa Contini - Marion Cotillard
Carla - Penelope Cruz
Lilli - Judi Dench
Saraghina - Fergie
Stephanie - Kate Hudson
Claudia - Nicole Kidman
Mamma - Sophia Loren
Dante - Ricky Tognazzi
Fausto - Giuseppe Cederna
De Rossi - Valerio Mastandrea
Pierpaolo - Elio Germano
Donatella - Martina Stella
Jaconelli - Roberto Nobile
Cardinal - Remo Remotti
Dr. Rondi - Roberto Citran
"Nine" is a savvy piece of musical filmmaking. Sophisticated, sexy and
stylishly decked out, Rob Marshall's disciplined, tightly focused film
impresses and amuses as it extravagantly renders the creative crisis of a
middle-aged Italian director, circa 1965. Given its basis in a 27-year-old
Broadway show, which itself had its unlikely origins in Federico Fellini's
self-reflective 1963 classic "8½," the Stateside Weinstein release will
probably find a more receptive audience among culture vultures than with the
masses. But a robust marketing push stressing the stellar cast, strong
notices and the "another 'Chicago' " vibe should still generate solid
returns, especially in urban areas.
Although the original 1982 production, with a book by Arthur L. Kopit, music
and lyrics by Maury Yeston and Raul Julia in the leading role, won five Tony
Awards and ran for 729 performances, many theater mavens preferred the 2003
revival and its star, Antonio Banderas.
But given its heritage and the profession of the central character, the
musical has found its proper place on the bigscreen, along with a cast that
could scarcely be bettered. Not only can they act, but Daniel Day-Lewis,
Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson and
Sophia Loren can sing. Why didn't anyone know? As one, the cast would
undoubtedly respond, "Because no one ever asked." [Max: Loren has sung in
several films, including MAN OF LA MANCHA! Of course, Dench has ung on
stage -- CABARET, hello!, among others -- but not in a film.]
First big scene at Rome's Cinecitta Film Studios allows the film to
establish its stylized method at the outset, as the many women in the life
of dashing cinema genius Guido Contini (Day-Lewis) musically make their way
onto an unfinished set on giant stage five as he faces the imminent start of
a movie he hasn't begun to write. Called "maestro" far too often for his own
good, Guido is the sun around which swirl innumerable lovers, loyal workers,
acolytes and hangers-on, all whom vie for his time and attention while
peppering him with questions about the new picture.
Instead of making Guido entirely self-absorbed and self-serious, Day-Lewis
at once places the viewer firmly in the palm of his hand and then in his
pocket by emphasizing the character's humorous awareness of his position in
life. He puts on a grand show at a press conference, although one
journalist, noting that Guido's last two films flopped, pierces the armor of
jokiness by asking, "Have you run out of things to say?" At this, the
director retreats to a seaside resort to recharge and tells his loyal wife,
Luisa (Cotillard), to stay home, only to receive his lusty mistress, Carla
(Cruz), who proceeds to steam up the place with her number, "A Call From the
Vatican."
Except for Luisa, who has two, the women define their roles in Guido's life
by through single songs, which are uniformly arresting in their own right,
even if they finally reveal themselves to be mostly straightforward
"statement" songs with a similar nature in the Weill-via-Kander-and-Ebb
mold. After Carla's declaration of the hots for Guido come "Folies Bergere,"
a celebration of dreams and sensual bewitchment from Lilli (Dench), Guido's
old costume designer and confidante; "Be Italian," rousingly belted out by
Fergie, playing a beachside prostitute of Guido's boyhood; "My Husband Makes
Movies," Luisa's moving lament that her husband's profession takes
precedence over her; "Cinema Italiano," a celebration of the Italy depicted
in Guido's movies sung by flirty journalist Stephanie (Hudson); the
reassuring mother-to-son lullaby "Guarda la luna" sung by Loren; "Unusual
Way," an acute admission by Guido's muse and frequent lead actress, Claudia
(Kidman), of the strange hold he has on her; and the new "Take It All," in
which Luisa brutally reminds her husband of the sexy woman he is losing.
Some other songs from the show have been adapted or dropped, and bracketing
the women's numbers are two from Guido, the egocentric "Guido's Song" and
his throwing in of the towel, "I Can't Make This Movie"; "Find another
genius," he petulantly challenges those who would listen.
Cutting between black-and-white and color in the musical numbers and, like
Fellini's film, constantly on the move as Guido is buffeted about with
scarcely a moment to breathe, much less write a script, "Nine" takes the the
matter of directile dysfunction seriously without being pretentious about
it. With the distance of 45 years, the glory days of Italian filmmaking are
depicted more for their chaotic fun than for their grave chic or
philosophical import, and the double delight for the cast to be working in
both a musical and a picture set in such a fabled era (one known personally
among the cast members only by Loren) plainly shows in their spirited
performances.
The script sets the course in these matters as well as others, notably in
finding a way to honor "8½" while enabling one to put it to the side of
one's mind, and in illuminating Guido's folly while still taking seriously
his relationships with women. It was not for nothing that the writers
engaged were Michael Tolkin, author of "The Player," and Anthony Minghella,
whose "The Talented Mr. Ripley" so evocatively captured the Rome of just a
few years before.
Working again with his resourceful lenser Dion Beebe, Marshall shoots in a
nimble style that keeps the film alive all the way; editing by Claire
Simpson and Wyatt Smith is fast but not frantic.
Updated On: 12/4/09 at 11:04 PM
