“NINE”
Written by Michael Tolkin and Anthony Minghella based on the Broadway play; Directed by Rob Marshall; Stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren. Musical follows the life of world famous film director as he reaches a creative and personal crisis of epic proportion, while balancing the numerous women in his life.
Seen December 30, 2009, by Adam Wohl
ADAM:
I sat down for this film after having heard very mixed things; I do listen to what people have to say, particularly people whose opinions I value, yet I’m always eager to have as much of an open mind as possible and to form my own POV by the time the lights come up. I’m also a fan of the musical, having thought Rob Marshall’s last, “Chicago” was absolutely brilliant. So this was going to be a tough mountain to climb. And unfortunately, “NINE” barely reached base camp.
The lack of a deep story and thus limited things for the wealth of talent to do produced two very evident results: the actors who had the meatier roles really shined. Penelope Cruz and Marion Cotillard are simply wonderful in the film; however, it should be noted that it’s their performance as actors - delivering dialogue - that’s most enjoyable, and less their musical numbers. And that’s not because they’re incapable as singers and dancers. Which brings me to result number two: with a shallow story, the musical numbers really must to carry the film. And that’s not the case here. The lyrics simply fall flat, and the choreography from number to number is quite repetitive.
The story is for the most part predictable as well. It is nice to see how Guido(played by the always competent Daniel Day Lewis) became the way he is through flashback to his childhood, but as the present day story unfolds, it hits all the points we expect and Guido’s arc is one we’re very familiar with.
The wardrobe is impeccable and the production design top notch, but when all eyes are on the screen, substance is needed to back up that style, and the fact that unlike “Chicago,” this is not a Fosse-born project makes it very easy to say that “NINE” is worth about half that on a normal movie grading scale.
