Nine Review

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 12.24.2009

The director of Chicago brings the Tony Award winning musical based on the classical Fellini masterpiece back to theaters. It's a daunting task, but does he succeed?

Directed by Rob Marshall
Written by Michael Tolkin and Anthony Minghella
Based on the Tony Award winning play by Arthur Kopit, Maury Yeston and Mario Fratti
Influenced by the film 8 ½ by Federico Fellini

Cast
Daniel Day-Lewis ... Guido Contini
Marion Cotillard ... Luisa Contini
Penélope Cruz ... Carla
Nicole Kidman ... Claudia
Judi Dench ... Lilli
Kate Hudson ... Stephanie
Sophia Loren ... Mamma
Fergie ... Saraghina

Runtime: 79 min
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sexual content and smoking




Adapting the work of others is not easy. Adapting a stage musical production for film is also something not always accomplished on a high level. Rob Marshall has proven to be adept at this task when his debut feature film Chicago snagged six Oscars, including one for Best Picture. Marshall has taken on a more daunting task with his latest film, Nine.

Nine is not just a cinematic version of a Tony Award winning stage production. Nine is an adaptation of that stage musical that is an adaptation of one of the greatest films ever made, Fellini’s 8 ½.

The Fellini classic is one of the director’s most personal films, telling the story of a film director who has writer’s block. It is Adaptation forty years before Charlie Kauffman wrote his self referential tale. 8 ½ is arguably the greatest film ever made about the making of film. The stage production, based on the musical written by Maury Yeston when he said he believed the movie 8 ½ displayed the exact same things he was feeling at the time. It debuted on Broadway in 1982 and ran for 729 performances, starring Raul Julia.

Rob Marshall had a lot to live up to.

Daniel Day Lewis is Italian director Guido Contini. He is nearing his fiftieth birthday and believes he has little left to say in the way of original storytelling. Regardless, he has a movie he is pumping up to his fans but has no script despite shooting scheduled to take place in just days. I have heard rumblings that Day Lewis was miscast in this film and I cannot disagree enough. He is spectacular in the role as Guido and carries the confusion, the longings, the comic timing and the despair Fellini presented so well in his original film.

Just as with 8 ½, Nine centers around the women who shaped the life of Guido. In the area of casting, Marshall has stated he chose to avoid any divas and wanted all the women he signed to be quality people, as well as great actresses and performers. He succeeded spectacularly. When the film opens, we meet all the women in Guido’s life in an opening number “Overture Delle Donne”, and we are set up to witness the dissection of this man’s life as both we and Guido discover what is holding him back.

Marion Cotillard is the wife, Penelope Cruz the mistress, Judi Dench the confidant, Fergie the prostitute that influenced him as a child, Kate Hudson as the reporter wanting to bed him, Nicole Kidman as his muse and Sophia Loren as his mamma. Every woman in this cast is expected to carry their own musical number and all succeed on some level.

Marion Cotillard is the highlight of the women, the neglected wife who loves her man but sees the end of her patience drawing near. She is perfect as the tormented, heartbroken woman who stands by her man, as seen in the number My Husband Makes Movies, but eventually breaks down in “Take it All,” one of the three new songs written for the film by Maury Yeston. If there is any one character that helps this film rise to extraordinary levels, it is her role and she deserves any accolades she receives. She delivers the heartbroken woman with such zest you hang on her every movement when she is on the screen.

The other performances are hit and miss with Judi Dench’s “Folies Bergere” a great number and both Penelope Cruz’s “A Call from the Vatican” and Kate Hudson’s “Cinema Italiano” high energy and a lot of fun, the later another of the new songs. On the lesser side is Fergie’s “Be Italian” and Day Lewis’ rendition of “Guido’s Song.” It is not that the songs are necessarily bad, they don’t have the energy and oomph a filmed musical needs.

The movie changes the outdoor location of Fellini’s film to a soundstage and the set design is jaw dropping. Each musical number took place on the soundstage and careful planning was done to make sure that, between the lighting and the prop placement, it never looked the same in any two numbers. It is a meticulously designed set that deserves recognition.

The direction shows a lot of respect for the original Fellini film as well. The scene where Guido puts his mistress up in a cheap hotel is a shot-for-shot remake from the original film and the scene on the beach with the prostitute is shot in black and white and grainy and, for a moment, I thought I was watching the original scene from the Fellini film. Changes were made, such as the exorcism of the hospital from the original and the new hot tub confession with the priest, but overall it is a loyal and wonderful adaptation of the Fellini classic. The film starts with the women surrounding Guido, almost suffocating him, and ends with everyone from his life standing behind him as he moves on with his career. It is perfect circular filmmaking and Rob Marshall is two-for-two in the genre as far as I am concerned.

The 411: Nine is not a film that will win over non-musical fans. It is also a movie that will leave some fans with limited knowledge of the Fellini classic or of filmmaking in general, a little out in the cold. However, the set pieces and the performances are solid enough to win over fans of musicals and the story is great enough to win over cineastes. Daniel Day Lewis and Marion Cotillard both should come out of this film with award nominations, and both deserve everything they get. Director Rob Marshall took on a difficult task and came out with another solid performance.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]