Monday, December 21, 2009
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Monday, December 21, 2009
MOVIE REVIEW
Nine
It’s Sexy! It Sizzles!
Looks Good! It’s Hot!
It Burns!
Sex-sational: Kate Hudson (second
from right) in the musical drama "Nine", directed by Rob Marshall.
Weinstein Company
By
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
Monday, December 21, 2009
Rob Marshall, last seen directing “Chicago” to five Oscars including for Best
Picture, brings us “Nine”, a snappy, sexy little number based on the Broadway
musical that Antonio Banderas starred in a few years ago.
That successful musical was based on Federico Fellini’s classic film “8
½”. Daniel Day-Lewis plays Italian film
director Guido Contini, obsessing over and struggling with the next film he is
directing. Guido has a bevy of beautiful
women to guide or plague him during the process, including his mother (Sophia
Loren) who is there in spirit to keep him from drowning.
Mr. Day-Lewis, known for his method approach to acting, plunges headlong into
the role of anguished auteur, hunched shoulders, accent and tightly-coiled
figure intact as Guido stresses himself out.
Seeking escape from it all Guido finds that the more he hides, the more
exposed he is. There’s his mistress
(Penelope Cruz, red hot and sexier than ever here), his wife (an
Oscar-nomination worthy Marion Cotillard), his muse (Nicole Kidman, in a cameo),
his costume designer (Dame Judi Dench), a prostitute (Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson)
and an American journalist (a vixen-like Kate Hudson), all of whom vie for his
attention.
“Nine” is flashy and fast but its characters are equally as flighty and
weightless. Granted, its impressive
editing, cinematography and choreography give it energy and pizzazz but the only
especially memorable things about it are Ms. Cruz’s dance number and sex appeal,
Ms. Cotillard’s beautifully subtle work and Miss Hudson’s moments in the sun.
The film is meant more as an impression in Guido’s mind than an orderly
narrative. If viewed this way “Nine” is
far more enjoyable than it probably should be.
A stage man by trade, Mr. Marshall knows how to direct the daylights out
of theater, and with the help of his actors and dancers he makes an eye-popping
spectacle of entertainment for audiences on the big screen.
No doubt men will enjoy “Nine” more than women will for its parade of bare naked
flesh. The T&A crowd of men will whoop
and holler like Arsenio Hall’s now-defunct “Dog Pound”, and not a few women will
claim that “Nine” is sexist. The sexism
charge has validity for sure – although Ms. Cotillard’s role has a power and
rectitude to it that, while not vanquishing the charge – makes her character the
smartest of all the film’s players. Ms.
Cotillard’s supporting work is a compelling and dignified portrait of respect
and strength.
“Nine” opens across the U.S. and Canada on Christmas Day.
“Nine” is rated PG-13 by the Motion
Picture Association Of America for sexual content and smoking.
And yes, it smokes. The film’s
duration is one hour and 58 minutes.
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