Nine - Movie Review

"Nine"

My 0-10 rating: 7

Genre: Musical, Romance

Director: Rob Marshall

Screenplay: Michael Tolkin, Anthony Minghella, based on the 1982 musical show, inspired by Frederico Fellini's 1963 film "8 1/2"

Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench,

Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren

Time: 1 hr., 58 min.

Rating: PG-13 (sexual content)

With relentless high octane glitz, ritz and supercharged dazzle of the Italian glory days of cinema, "Nine" has the megawattage gut energy that will leave you helplessly entertained.

But, you've noticed, the critical reviews nationally haven't been great. Why? Well, y'see, if you must measure the quality of a movie by its plot and character depth, don't even bother checking in on this one. That ain't what it is. This is style, not substance, and whether in movies, theater, politics, or just personal communication, guess which one always wins.

No, we're talking red hot showmanship and dazzling delivery here, immersed in a cultural display of the times with such smash and dash that you'll find yourself still holding onto your first handful of popcorn after ten minutes in.

This treatment, indeed, is the heartbeat of the film, creating enormous energy from only basic material, much as do the character celebrities within it. Some may argue that this is little more than a series of musical vignettes, each creating on its own. Perhaps, but irrelevant. At the film audience stimulation level, it's wild.

Each and every star seems primed and bursting with the aplomb and delivery required, and much more. Stars to whom we hadn't previously associated singing talent blast forth here with piercing power. The production numbers are not especially paced for dramatic effect; they just vibrate on their own from high tension to high tension. In effect, the film has made full-length feature out of film previews. And hey, it works.

Emotional connections? No, that's not what this about.

With but a token salute to Frederico Fellini's 1963 film "8 1/2," "Nine" sprawls across the screen with every intent to fill every frame to every corner with sexy spectacle and/or quick-energizing dialogue in the show people-speak of the glittering stage. In an almost indifferent storyline, if plot is what you must have, the 1965 setting offers a middle-aged Italian director going through a mental block in his creative genius.

It all opens at Rome's Cinecitta Film Studios where famed director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) winds his way to the huge Stage Five as his fiercely loyal coterie of lovers, stage hands and what would later be called groupies hover in his glorious presence. He is only too aware that the movie that is about to be filmed, "Italia" (his ninth, and so the title), has as yet not even been written. Yet here he is facing the press and his idolizing hordes.

When one of the reporters, in the context of Contini's last two box office bombs, asks him, "Have you run out of things to say?" he knows he better withdraw from the moment and start to face himself. Escaping to a seaside resort, in typical Italian celebrity tradition, he tells his wife (Marion Cotillard) to remain at home all the while as he arranges to see exclusively his sizzling mistress Carla (Penelope Cruz) who sets the place glowing with her "A Call from the Vatican" number.

Among Contini's closest woman are also provocative singer Claudia (Nicole Kidman) -- and his mother (Sophia Loren). They provide the nucleus of his relationships, although he is made constantly aware of the hard fact that in real life they are quite the independent women, none bending readily to his will.

So the "plot" unashamedly lets itself rest on Contini's mental block in creativity. Who cares, anyway.

Just come and flow with it.

Marty Meltz, http://www.martymoviereviews.com, was the 30-year films critic for the Award-winning Maine Sunday Telegram until his column was budget-cut on Dec. 31, 2007.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marty_Meltz