Nine
Nine
Synopsis:
Item Type: BLU-RAY DVD Movie
Item Rating: PG13
Street Date: 05/04/10
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
LanguageENGLISH
Foreign Film: no
Subtitlesno
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: no
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve Please note: This supplier will be closed on 11/24, 11/25, 12/26, 1/2 for the holidays. The shipping cut off is 12/10 to try and have the products delivered by Christmas.”Be Italian!” comes the thundering command from one of the catchiest songs in Nine, and the movie version of this Broadway musical hit is undeniably solid on that point. It’s drenched in cool cars, glamorous Italian threads, and cozy Roman neighborhoods, all circa 1962. That, you will note, is the vint
List Price: $ 9.99
Price: $ 2.45
Find More Penelope Cruz Products
Everyone Should “Be Italian”,
I am a little upset with people who are fans of musicals. There isn’t enough product to satisfy our desire and when a very good example of this genre is released, we stay away in droves. I simply don’t understand why “Nine”, the new musical, not to be confused with “9″, the recent animated film from Tim Burton, s getting pretty unanimously bad critical reviews. I don’t understand why fans of the genre are staying away.
Directed by Rob Marshall (“Chicago”), “Nine” is an adaptation of a very successful Broadway musical adapted from the Fellini film “8 ½”. The film contains some very good performances and some amazing vocals and dancing from actors I didn’t know could sing or dance. Add to that a beautiful and romantic period setting and you have a film that is a fitting companion piece to “Chicago”.
Are fans of this genre waiting for the next Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire? Is that why they are staying away? Do you secretly desire “An American in Paris II” or a remake of “Singin’ In The Rain”? That won’t happen (I pray to God). As we continue to evolve and our tastes become more modern, the genres we love have to adapt and change along with us. For a long period of time, the only musicals we could see on the big screen were animated. Many of these were great and provided an avenue for talented people. Then, Baz Luhrmann managed to convince 20th Century Fox to let him make “Moulin Rouge”. “Chicago”, “Mamma Mia”, “Hairspray” and more than a few films that should be forgotten followed this. A lot of people didn’t like “Moulin Rouge” because of the frantic visual style. I loved it. “Chicago” is a bit more traditional than “Moulin Rouge”, allowing the viewer to get involved in the story and characters because they take a moment (every so often) to breath. Now Marshall follows this success with “Nine”.
Rome, the 60s. Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis), a very successful Italian film director is experiencing writer’s block after two of his films have flopped. This is unfortunate because his longtime producer is practically forcing him to make his new film. They have a title, “Italia” and are convinced it will star Claudia Messina (Nicole Kidman), Contini’s longtime muse. Even his confidant, and confessor, his longtime costume designer, Lilli (Judi Dench) knows he is having trouble, but she does her best to provide support and a nudge when needed. A set is in production on a huge soundstage at Cincecitta, but Guido is experiencing a midlife crisis and can’t come up with anything to write about. When the pressure becomes too great, he runs off to a spa on the Italian peninsula and hides there, trying to escape everyone and everything. He calls his wife, Luisa (Marion Cotillard, “La Vie En Rose”) and tells her he will be home in a few days. Then he calls his mistress, Carla (Penelope Cruz) and gets her installed in a nearby penzione. When his production team and producer show up at the spa, what was supposed to be rest quickly becomes a working holiday and continues to stress out the famous director. Instead, he begins to remember all of the women in his life and with each memory, comes a new musical number and an equally amusing performance by one of the ladies.
I really liked a lot about what “Nine” is trying to do. Unfortunately, I also think many of the things I like are also the same things keeping people away from the multiplex.
As Guido deals with his writer’s block and all of the complications of his life, he begins to remember back to each of the important women in his life and their various influences in shaping who he has become. There are some references to Guido’s history with women and the sheer number of sexual partners seems to be large, but there are certain women in his life who are important and he remembers each with fondness. As the memories flood back, Marshall begins to cut some of the most beautiful footage I have seen in a long time into the story, providing us with a biographical glimpse into the director’s life. He remembers back to his childhood when he paid a loose woman to show off her private parts to a group of children. This is told through black and white footage and shows the boys running across an Italian beach. When the woman comes out of her hut, “Be Italian” begins and the story cuts back and forth from the footage at the beach to a full-blown musical number featuring singer Fergie (from the Black Eyed Peas) as Saraghina. As the musical number progresses, you begin to realize Saraghina and the many other women in the number are actually on the soundstage back in the studio in Rome, it’s iconic roman arches ever present. Yet, the singers are sitting on wooden chairs and flinging sand around. It is a visually striking musical number and quickly establishes how the film will unfold.
Not only do we start to get a feeling for Guido’s life leading up to this crisis, we also realize he is, in fact, remembering things that will…
Read more
Was this review helpful to you?
|Nine Review,
NINE
STARRING: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren and Stacy Ferguson
WRITTEN BY: Michael Tolkin and Anthony Minghella; based on the Broadway musical “Nine” by Arthur Kopit, Maury Yeston and Mario Fratti
DIRECTED BY: Rob Marshall
Rated: PG – 13
Genre: Musical / Drama
Release Date: 25 December 2009
If Nine wasn’t one of the ten best films of 2009, it sure was close. I’m not a big fan of musicals in general, but if a film is good, then it’s good. Rob Marshal, the Academy Award nominated director of Chicago, has created another unique and glorious musical with a banging soundtrack.
Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Guido Contini. He’s a guy who isn’t very optimistic despite having Marion Cotillard for a wife and Penelope Cruz for a mistress. He is a successful filmmaker and is having trouble producing the material for his latest film. But due to his accredited past, he is able to have an entire production put into motion without even so much as a rough copy of a screenplay.
The film opens with a huge musical number that was not the least bit cheap. We meet all the leading ladies, and Guido. These leading ladies consist of Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson, Judie Dench, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren and Stacy Ferguson (aka `Fergie’ for you MTV folks).
They are all leading ladies in Hollywood and the characters they portray are leading ladies in the mind and or life of Guido. Sophia Loren is his mother, Judi Dench is his costume designer, Nicole Kidman is his friend as well as a famous actress, and Stacy Ferguson plays a seductive woman of his past that he found attractive at a very young age.
The reason for the huge musical number is to show us that Guido is a man who is constantly fantasizing about these various women in several different ways. Each one of them performs an amazing song at some point in the film; usually, if not always, taking place in Guido’s mind.
Guido sulks around the frame throughout the film, living off utter moments of happiness that fade away within seconds. At one moment Penelope Cruz’s character does it for him, but then he loses interest and it’s Kate Hudson who has his attention. His wife even manages to catch his eye for a brief moment, but it’s more than anything the fact that she’s enraged with his having an affair, that he finds appealing. He’s a poor sap indeed, but Lewis plays him magnificently. If you have seen Lewis in even one other film, then I don’t need to tell you how talented he is.
Kate Hudson is in the film for a very short time, but blew me out of my seat nonetheless. She shows a side of herself that I have never seen before, that reminded me partially of her mother (Goldie Hawn) and something else completely unknown. I can’t believe that she was not nominated for her performance. As if that’s not bad enough, her beautiful song `Italian Cinema’ was snubbed out of a nomination to boot. Why was this overlooked? I can’t be alone in thinking it was spectacular.
I can see how Nicole Kidman, Daniel Day-Lewis and Judi Dench were all able to walk away without an Oscar nomination. Not that they weren’t great, but we know what to expect from them; they are three of the most talented people acting today. But how did Marion Cotillard go unnoticed?
She was magnificent as Guido’s emotionally neglected wife. There is a scene near the end of the film where she has come to the realization that he is not the man she thought he was when they married. He looks at her and sees this written across her face, and it is very powerful stuff. Her songs were extraordinary and one of them received an Oscar nomination.
Stacy Ferguson doesn’t really do much acting in the film, but her song `Be Italian’ was very enjoyable to watch and could have very easily been nominated for an Oscar as well.
It’s almost offensive that out of all the incredible actors in Nine, Penelope Cruz was the only one to receive an Oscar nomination. I think she’s a pretty good actress overall; but up against Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman and especially Marion Cotillard and Kate Hudson; Cruz falls miserably behind in this film. All of the other actors brought far more to the table than she did. It’s bad enough she already won last year for her mediocre performance in Vicky Christina Barcelona. Sometimes, I just don’t get the get the Academy Awards.
Was this review helpful to you?
|ANOTHER ROB MARSHALL MASTERPIECE,
I HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO THE BAD REVIEWS ABOUT THIS EXCELLENT MUSICAL SINCE IT WAS RELEASED. ROB MARSHALL’S CONCEPTION OF THIS BROADWAY MUSICAL IS BRILLIANT. WE ARE NOT SUPPOSE TO KNOW ANYTHING MORE ABOUT THE WOMEN IN DANIEL DAY LEWIS’ LIFE. JUST THAT THEY WERE PART OF HIS LIFE AS HE GREW TO MANHOOD. NO DIFFERENT THAN THE HIT BROADWAY MUSICAL. MARSHALL EFFORTLESSLY INTEGRATES THE SONGS WITH THE DRAMA. EVERY NUMBER AND I MEAN EVERY NUMBER IS A SHOWSTOPPER AND STAGED AS ONLY MARSHALL COULD DO. THIS IS A FIRST RATE MOTION PICTURE AND I THINK IT’S BEEN UNJUSTLY IGNORED BY THE PUBLIC AND THE CRITICS. IT STANDS ALONE AS IT’S OWN ENTITY AND CAN NOT BE COMPARED WITH CHICAGO WHICH IN IT’S OWN BRILLIANT COMMERCIAL WAY IS ALSO A CLASSIC.
NINE IS A COMPLICATED AND HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED MUSICAL THAT WASN’T MEANT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY. THE PICTURE BELONGS TO DANIEL DAY LEWIS NOT TO THE WOMEN IN HIS LIFE.
MAURY YESTON HAS WRITTEN A FANTASTIC SCORE AND COMBINED WITH ROB MARSHALL’S DIRECTION IT FAR SURPASSES THE ACTUAL BROADWAY SHOW. I LOVED THIS FILM AND CAN NOT WAIT TO OWN THE DVD. BY THE WAY, NICOLE KIDMAN JUST HAPPENS TO SING ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING SONGS, (UNUSUAL WAY), WRITTEN BY YESTON AND DRAMATICALLY PERFORMS THE SONG TO PERFECTION. IT’S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO SEPARATE THE SONG FROM THE DIALOGUE. CUDOS TO MARSHALL!!!!
Was this review helpful to you?
|