Nine (Movie Review)

Movie Review
Nine
2009
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz
Directed by: Rob Marshall

Every year or so Hollywood gets a musical film; usually based on a play. This year, we get Nine, directed by Rob Marshall. Marshall had previously directed Chicago; which won a boat load of Oscars in the year where it was Hollywood’s musical release for that season. Considering the pedigree of the filmmaker and the stars (Nicole Kidman was in Moulin Rouge), there were high expectations for this film. Unfortunately, the movie falls apart despite some really good music and interesting film techniques.

Being smothered by the press, his film company, and those around him to carry out his latest project, Italian director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) has hit a mental roadblock; he has no script and production is about to start. As he tries to seclude himself away from distraction, he’s constantly forced back into the public eye by his producer. It also doesn’t help that his personal indiscretions keep haunting him as well. As his personal and professional life are falling apart, Contini searches within himself and through the women in his life to seek out answers to his problems.

If there’s one thing that could be said about the movie, it’s that the musical performances are really good. Some of the productions are both rhythmically and visually impressive. Sometimes, the song relies on elaborate choreography and, at other times, different film techniques are employed to show off some artsy visuals. Each song feels unique and pleasing to the ear. It’s not all perfect, though. The dubbing isn’t great and sometimes the actors look like they’re doing a poor job lip-synching. The lyrics lack both imagination and intelligence and don’t do much to help tell the story (the exception being Day-Lewis’s solo pieces which aren’t exactly musically stimulating but they do help move the story along). If anything, the songs feel like music videos spliced into the movie. They seem like unnecessary interruptions as far as the storytelling goes. Despite that, those who enjoy musical productions will enjoy some of the stuff in this movie.

The story itself is interesting in that even though you know that Contini has become an adulterous fraud, you still want him to succeed in the end. You feel bad for the guy even though he’s about to go off the deep end. Day-Lewis’s performance is excellent as he really nails the role of an arrogant filmmaker who feels he can charm anyone to get what he wants; which is a reason why his character is so likable despite being very unlikable on paper. You can really feel the paranoia running through Contini’s body. It’s also interesting to watch Contini interact with the various women in his life and see how they’ve shaped him. The relationships are very interesting and they never feel worn out by focusing on one woman more than needed. Actually, it would have been interesting to see how Contini became so close to Claudia Jenssen (Kidman) besides hearing about how she’s been in his last several movies in passing through the minor characters.

The movie has an interesting dynamic in that it’s both about Contini and Contini’s women. A whole movie could have been made about the relationship between Contini and his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penelope Cruz), or Lilli La Fleur (Judi Dench), his costume designer and one of the only people he talks openly to. It hurts the movie because there’s only so much time each interaction can be allotted and it feels like everything is abridged to make room for it all. In a way, it works because Contini’s life is so messed up that he really has no time to devote to anyone; so artistically it makes sense. However, the average moviegoer wants to be entertained by a good story instead of spending two hours analysing a film for its artistic merit. The story feels like it was written by someone with attention deficit disorder; it’s all over the place.

Rob Marshall has experience converting plays into movies. However, while watching Nine, I got the sense that this movie would make for a much better play (speaking as someone who hates plays). It’s too messy a movie to be worth recommending to someone that they really need to see it. Day-Lewis’s performance alone is almost worth recommending the film. Musical fans will enjoy it but those who don’t like musicals will have a tough time.

☆☆☆