Using His Gift With Grace

Nine

Directed By: Rob Marshall

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, & Penelope Cruz

Nine is every bit as glitzy and glamorous as you might expect from director Rob Marshall. Based on the Tony-winning Broadway play of the same name, it is beautiful and utterly theatrical, giving its audience the feeling that they are sitting in the front row of a lavish stage production. Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Guido Contini, a brilliant film director facing a life crisis just ten days before the production of his new movie is set to begin. He has no script...no story...and no scheme for getting either. At the same time, he is conflicted by the many beautiful women in his life: his long-suffering wife, Luisa (Marion Cotillard); his desperate mistress, Carla (Penelope Cruz); his wise costume designer, Lilli (Judi Dench); a hotshot reporter named Stephanie (Kate Hudson); his muse and beloved star, Claudia (Nicole Kidman); and his deceased mother (Sophia Loren), who haunts him. Guido has created a complex web in his life, and Nine follows him as he reaches a crossroads that will make it impossible for him to continue living as he has for years. But, for a man who has always had everything and only ever wants more than what he has, the idea of losing something is enough to drive him crazy.

For fans of Broadway productions or movie musicals, Nine will certainly be a treat. I love both and, therefore, it appeals to me on many levels. The music and the drama are interwoven seamlessly, with all of the musical scenes occurring within the minds of the characters. They are often difficult songs that allow the cast to really exercise their vocal chords; Marion Cotillard, especially, handles the musical portions of her performance well. Her rendition of "Take It All" is masterful. Kate Hudson, taking on a role that was not present in the stage production, has the best song, however, with the fun and instantly catchy "Cinema Italiano." In fact, I can't really imagine this story being told without her and that song because it serves the very distinct and necessary purpose of lightening up an otherwise stark and dramatic story. In any musical, you should leave with a song in your head; for Nine, that song belongs to Hudson, who sings it well and handles the choreography with surprising grace. My major problem with Nine is that "Cinema Italiano" and "Take It All" are two of the very few songs that will have you singing along. Most of the other songs are either indistinguishable from one another or just a little dull. They are staged excellently and shot with skill, making the performances of them fun to watch; but, as standalone songs, they are quite uninspired and lackluster. I expect better music in...you know, a musical.

Rob Marshall has assembled a surprisingly hefty cast; it's a who's who of Oscar winners and nominees. I long for the day when a musical can employ actual Broadway performers, rather than more bankable A-list stars, but that probably won't be possible anytime soon. As it is, the members of this cast are willing to take risks and step outside of their comfort zones. They sing and dance and are actually quite good at doing both. If anything, the sheer size of the cast is the problem. Really, only four performances matter, those belonging to Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, and, to a lesser extent, Judi Dench. They play four interesting people that we care about and long to follow. Kate Hudson and Sophia Loren are used to enhance the story, but don't really have distinguishable characters and could have been played by anyone with the same effect; Loren, especially, is utterly divine, but underused. Then, you have Nicole Kidman and Stacy 'Fergie' Ferguson who are not merely underused, but completely wasted. The problem in employing A-list stars for bit parts is that they are never given enough time to develop their characters and, thus, come off looking like themselves. It can be distracting and can take the viewer out of the movie.

Nine is a compelling movie that a follows a compelling main character. Daniel Day-Lewis is very charming as Guido, a role into which he effortlessly fades. He is charismatic, handsome, and romantic; we can see why so many women would find him beguiling, why they would put aside their good senses out of their admiration for him. It is especially noteworthy that Day-Lewis is good here because, had his performance faltered in any way, the movie would simply not have worked. Ultimately, he plays a very selfish and unlikable man; but the success of Nine depends on us caring what happens to him anyway. We do, but only because Day-Lewis is so very good in the role. Rob Marshall is clearly very skilled at making movies like this; he has proven himself once again to be very intelligent about filming musical scenes. He has a way of capturing both the large-scale feel of them and the intimate focus on the characters simultaneously. Nine is not the masterpiece that I had hoped it to be, primarily because it only has a few truly great songs, but also because it has a way of feeling distant. Occasionally, especially in the scenes involving the underused stars mentioned above, we feel as though we are merely seeing the movie, rather than actually experiencing it. Still, even with these noticeable problems, Nine is beautiful, charming, glamorous, and entertaining. It might not be the "Best Picture" material I had expected, but it's still quite good.