Film Reviews

Nine

• Rating:
• Director: Rob Marshall
• Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis
• Details: US/Italy / TBC (12A).

After taking Chicago from the stage to the big screen, and picking up a few Oscars on the way, Rob Marshall delves into deeper territory with a musical inspired by Federico Fellini's 1963 masterpiece 8 and a half, Nine is already a winner of a handful of Tony's (including Best Musical), but it won't trouble Oscar night like Chicago did.
Day-Lewis plays Guido Contini, a former giant of Italian cinema who, after a few flops, is now suffering from writer's block. This couldn't come at a worse time because his new film is in pre-production and everything is ready to roll - sets are built, costumes are sewn, the actors are cast - but where's the script? Guido - dodging journalists at press conferences, his star, and his producer's constant enquiries - insists it's coming... But from where? Under pressure and looking for some kind of escape, Guido revisits (sometimes in his mind, sometimes in the bed of) the women who he has loved in his life. And there have been a few: mistress Penelope Cruz, town slut Fergie, muse Nicole Kidman, wife Cotillard, and mother Sophia Loren. Can they inspire him in time to write the script?
How does one review a musical? The numbers, the singing, the acting, the choreography, the costumes and the sets seem the desired way to go. The slow numbers are easier on the ears than the fast ones, which seem to be lifted from a different story and crash into Nine rather than a gentle segue. There isn't one showstopper in the lot, however, and the fact that Marshall insists on interrupting the songs, cutting back to 'real' action every now and then, doesn't help either. The performances are fine and even throw up a few surprises when it comes to singing - Day-Lewis, Cotillard and Kidman exhibit a decent set of lungs. Dench's costume designer is a treat when she's on screen (she even gets a nifty song of her own) but she's rarely used. There was no need for Kate Hudson's Vogue reporter, but the girl can sing.
What about the story, though? It's tough to care for someone who has got it all, isn't it? How can you root for a philandering, selfish egomaniac that puts everyone's career at risk? Who treats his loving wife like crap at every available opportunity? But does it matter? Does a plot get a 'pass' because it's a Musical? It shouldn't and it won't. Not here. The bones of the story come from Fellini but Marshall doesn't seem to be concerned with transferring the director's ideas into a musical - he just uses them as a springboard into pure entertainment. Nine does comes alive during the numbers when Marshall is allowed to do his music video thing, but struggles to keep interest levels high during the downtime.

Review by Gavin Burke