Posted: 11/6/18 at 2:53pm
Someone up-thread said "Be Italian" ended up looking like Mein Herr on Mars and stealing from Fosse, but I don't think it did. It's been a while since I watched it though. I thought it was clearly recreating the Saraghina scene on the beach in 8 1/2.
Updated On: 11/6/18 at 02:53 PM
Posted: 11/6/18 at 2:58pm
Let me correct myself, I forgot about the needless studio part where Fergie is singing it on on chairs with other women intercut with the beach scene. Geez, that was unneeded.
Posted: 11/6/18 at 3:14pm
darquegk said: "I think part of the strangeness of the film is that it tried to mash up too many styles, genres and settings. NINE is based on a Fellini film about Fellini, but is never implied to be set in Fellini's 1960s hipster Italy; every context clue hints instead at a 1930s-1940s setting, in the days of early Technicolor and epic film. Meanwhile, Marshall tries to mash it up with elements of Fellini's own 8 1/2, then shoots the whole thing in a non-Fellini style more akin to French New Wave "zou bisou bisou" hipness."
I agree, but Marshall is making a movie musical, based on a movie AND a musical. IMO, I think Marshall was attempting to make a movie musical in a style that was neither Fellini's (cinematically), nor Tommy Tunes' (stage musical-ly). I think he was attempting to make a film that reflected the possible film style of Guido Contini. (in that era)
Posted: 11/6/18 at 3:26pm
ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "Someone up-thread said "Be Italian" ended up looking like Mein Herr on Mars and stealing from Fosse, but I don't think it did. It's been a while since I watched it though. I thought it was clearly recreating the Saraghina scene on the beach in8 ½."
Posted: 11/6/18 at 3:42pm
I thought it was annoying that he spent so much time aping Fellini's film. One of the charms of the musical is that it does, in its way, move away from the original movie, but Marshall went out of his way to replicate locations from the film. If he'd moved in the opposite direction, and made it more Nine-esque, I think it would've been more successful (losing so much of the score is its own unfixible demerit).
Posted: 11/6/18 at 5:49pm
Which is why I think "Cinema Italiano" works for me. First, it's jazz - like in the underscore of 60s Italian movies. Secondly, the lyrics mention many of the romanticized visuals that were seen in movies of that time - the cars, the fashion, etc. And (for my tastes) the brilliant casting of Kate Hudson, who looks SOOOOO much like the 60s version of her mother, Goldie Hawn.
I absolutely love that number on its own. It's dazzling, catchy and fun. The only problem is, it is an erroneous diversion that really doesn't add anything to the plot and the music is completely incongruous with the rest of the score.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel Marshall was not so much trying to create homage, as to include images that evoke the flavor of Italian cinema. The film version moves in a direction that the stage version cannot - it incorporates film techniques and imagery of the kinds of films Guido might have been making.
But these attempts to evoke the flavor are wildly uneven in style, which just muddies up what is already a textured adaptation of a somewhat surrealist film. Both 8 1/2 and the original Broadway production of Nine were highly focused stylized productions (I never saw the revival, so I can't comment on that) that remained consistent throughout so the audience can find their way through this egotistical fever dream. Marshall took just selected bits of the musical in a very general sense and tried to layer it with nods to the original film, occasional visual nods to Italian cinema (broadly) and Fellini (specific to 8 1/2 and generally to his other films), all the while trying to shoehorn it into his Chicago template in a rather obvious attempt to make lightning strike twice (though I was part of the minority unimpressed with his Chicago). It was a choppy jumble of ideas that looked like a choppy jumble of ideas with no clear vision on how it was supposed to fit together. At least Chicago was riding the wave of success on the juggernaut revival. In the case of Nine, the film followed a very brief revival the general public wasn't even aware of and didn't even include the major star draw from Broadway.
I think Marshall was attempting to make a movie musical in a style that was neither Fellini's (cinematically), nor Tommy Tunes' (stage musical-ly). I think he was attempting to make a film that reflected the possible film style of Guido Contini. (in that era)
The result looked like he was trying to do all of the above + Chicago 2.0.
Posted: 11/6/18 at 6:29pm
Mister Matt , add me to the list that didn’t like Marshall’s Chicago.
Posted: 11/6/18 at 6:31pm
What was with the Coliseum setting? It made it very theatrical the opposite of cinematic in my opinion.
In film they have to spell things out and I think if they had set it as he imagined the women came to visit him in hospital, identical to the Prison/Vaudeville setting of Chicago. Spell out that in his hallucinations the artist is trying to direct his own biography.
Posted: 11/6/18 at 7:17pm
As for cast recordings I really love the OBC for it's cast and I really like the 1992 London Concert version with Paul Gemignani's orchestral arrangements. The only thing I think the film has going for it is a few good performances/musical numbers and is very well designed and shot; but other than that I think it's a big mess; but it's becoming something of a guilty pleasure for me.
Rob Marshall won me back with Into The Woods and I'm very excited for Mary Poppins Returns so I guess that evens it out.
Posted: 11/8/18 at 6:12am
Posted: 11/8/18 at 1:23pm
I do think that the movie showed that Penelope Cruz was riding high during those years. She received her third Oscar nomination for this movie and I don't think anybody felt she HAD to be nominated. I'm personally a big fan of hers so I didn't mind it, but I wouldn't have cried if she was snubbed either. I did think she gave the best performance out of the whole cast, but mainly in the non-singing scenes. I remember reading an interview where she said she loved doing this movie and how she feels she learned so much from working with Pedro Almodovar, Woody Allen, and Rob Marshall putting his name with those two. I guess that's why Marshall cast her in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie afterwards.
I also appreciated that it made Cruz and Kidman do press together to promote the film. Nice to see those two ladies together considering how Cruz became an American name in the first place (her relationship with Tom Cruise while he may have still been with Kidman...legally anyway).
Updated On: 11/8/18 at 01:23 PM
Posted: 11/10/18 at 3:52am
Each person's favorite is a personal thing, but I do think 'Nine" has one of the most beautiful scores in all of theater. I saw the revival in 2003 and loved it, but I've been listening to the score since 1982. It's a complex score and not as 'poppy' as some people like so it can be challenging for some, but it's worth the challenge. My only carp, and it's minor, is that I thought the book could have used some tightening. Still, it's one of my favorite musicals.
The movie was mis-directed by Rob Marshall, edited like an MTV video and they removed half of the original score, which is not a sign that they knew what to do with the material. It is not an accurate representation of "Nine" in any way.
