Nine is a musical set in
'60s Italy. It is about Guido Contini, a famous italian
director who fights to find inspiration for his next movie as well as
balance his personal life. This film is supposed to be an adaptation
of Frederico Fellini's oscar-awarded "81/2",
but, since I haven't watched the latter, I saw Nine as if it was a
movie out of the blue.
This film was directed by
Rob Marshall, the director of "Chicago", and starred Daniel Day-Lewis as Guido Contini, Marion
Cotillard as his wife (with whom he is estranged due to his
cheating), Penelope Cruz as his mistress, Nicole Kidman as his
muse/famous french actress, Judi Dench as his coworker, Fergie as
Saraghina, Kate Hudson as an american reporter and Sophia Lauren as
his mother.
It wasn't a bad movie. As all the musicals I am aware of, most of the songs included
in it were not the music I would choose to listen to unless I am watching the movie. Except for "Be
Italian", sang by Fergie, and "Take it all", sang by
Marion Cotillard, which stayed with me.
Daniel Day-Lewis, as
an incredible actor as he is, did not fully convince me as a womanizer. He is famous for being fully in character in
every movie he does, and I guess fooling around is not something you
do to get in character. I wasn't overwhelmed by Penelope Cruz either.
Also, how does Nicole Kidman play a french actress without the
smallest hint of french accent, or Judi Dench an italian costume
maker with a british accent (although in that case it works). Sophia
Lauren, who was, like, the only italian in there, had not much
connection with Daniel Day-Lewis.
I enjoyed the movie, and I didn't hate it or anyone playing in it, but it seemed to me it needed more time to
mature – even some of the musical parts looked like they needed
more.. practice. In addition, I am not sure if the fact that every
important character was played by a famous actor helped the movie.
Actually, this might have deprived the film of much of the element of
surprise. It looks like, "Hey, let's gather some stars and it
will work out by itself." Also, maybe if the adaptation was
about an american director it would be less forced-exotic. How an
american director (Marshall) tries to capture the heart of Italy with a
basically non-italian cast?
In short, even though the movie seems that it hasn't reached its whole potential, between "watch" and "don't watch" I would definetely choose "watch".
In short, even though the movie seems that it hasn't reached its whole potential, between "watch" and "don't watch" I would definetely choose "watch".
Is it my idea or Fergie sounds like a pirate? Still, her song is one of the highlights of the movie.
Don't be misled by the slightly boring first minute of the song. Keep on listening.
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