{"id":1656,"date":"2009-12-27T19:24:26","date_gmt":"2009-12-28T02:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/1morefilmblog\/?p=1656"},"modified":"2014-11-29T22:36:11","modified_gmt":"2014-11-30T03:36:11","slug":"nine-marshall-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/1morefilmblog\/nine-marshall-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine (Marshall, 2009)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
The cast of Nine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Some people live in a world where it seems completely natural to break out into song and dance and others do not. \u00a0I walk around suppressing the urge to burst into song about 80% of the time. So it makes complete sense to me, but imaginations come in all shapes and sizes.\u00a0Nine <\/em>manages, like a good musical, to make\u00a0every song and\/or dance number seem like a completely appropriate expression of the emotion being felt by the character(s). Most critics would disagree with me on this point because Nine <\/em>has certainly not gone over well with majority of reviewers. As someone who has a pretty good background in musicals I feel confident in standing by my opinion that the film\u00a0does<\/em> stand on its own as a musical. It may not be perfect, but I also think some of the problems critics are having with the film are rooted not in the films mistakes or shortcomings but in the approach the critic is taking.<\/p>\n

A lot of the critics are taking the \u201cwhy watch Nine<\/em> when 8 1\/2<\/em> is so much better?\u201d approach. First of all 8 1\/2<\/em> is not a musical and when a critic focuses on how Nine <\/em>compares I can\u2019t help but wonder if the critic is a big fan of musicals in general. I\u2019m not saying you can\u2019t do cross-genre comparisons, but at least recognize that you are in fact comparing two different genres, and, subsequently, the comparison should have more wiggle room. By ignoring this fact the writer allows the reader to answer the question of \u201cwhy watch Nine<\/em> when 8 1\/2 <\/em>is so much better?\u201d with \u201cwell because it\u2019s a musical<\/em> remake\u2026duh.\u201d The problem here is in the approach because you set yourself up for something that isn\u2019t possible (a better version of a Fellini film).<\/p>\n

One of the major complaints I\u2019m hearing (or reading rather) is that the movie \u00a0is confusing and the women and their song-a-piece just add to that confusion. I had the absolute opposite reaction. For me, the songs and the women who sang them helped me understand Guido and his creative struggle. But here\u2019s the rub I actually wanted<\/em> to understand Guido. What seems to be happening is that people watch the film and are automatically put off by the, as some have described him, narcissistic, self-centered, womanizing Guido, and, therefore, lose the desire to figure him out. Having a preconceived idea of Guido from 8 1\/2<\/em> could be a partial cause of this.\u00a0Subsequently, in the scenes where the women, or Guido himself, start singing people don\u2019t see it as a deeper expression of emotion but as a random and inappropriate medium of character development.<\/p>\n

You have to understand the nature of musicals to understand the problem here. The song\/dance numbers in a musical are supposed to take you beyond conventional dialogue and plot to help you further understand the characters and themes. So, if you have given up on trying to understand the character because you don\u2019t like him, then no you\u2019re not ready for the song\/dance number. That\u2019s not really the director\u2019s fault though. Nor is it the fault of Daniel Day-Lewis\u2019 portrayal of Guido. These are all set up well, but it\u2019s up to the viewer to accept Guido as the manipulative, self-centered, child-like, genius in humanity.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also easy to believe that someone like Guido would imagine the women in his life to be performers. With a musical there is an aspect of being larger than life that the characters (at least the main character) must possess, and Guido carries that off. His wife Louisa describes him as just an \u201cappetite\u201d which speaks volumes, and in \u201cGuido\u2019s Song\u201d we see that Guido wants everything and wants to be the sun of the universe. Louisa angrily sings later in the film that Guido wants \u201cmore than everything.\u201d He\u2019s a genius filmmaker who is unable to create his next movie and he\u2019s drained all of the women around him. This is seen best in \u201cMy Husband Makes Movies\u201d which Cotillard sings gracefully and reminded me of Audrey Hepburn in\u00a0My Fair Lady<\/em>. Louisa sings and talks about how Guido makes literal movies but also lives his life like it is a film he is directing, so the musical numbers make complete sense for someone like him who is so dramatic in his living, not necessarily his personality. Some people\u2019s story require song\u2013Guido is one of them.<\/p>\n

We all have Guido within us, but that\u2019s hard to admit. \u00a0I sympathize with Guido because by being an \u201cappetite\u201d he is able to love all of these women differently, but he hasn\u2019t learned how to not love them selfishly nor has he learned how to create without destroying pieces of them. But one is never unsure of the fact that he is in love with all of them.\u00a0I could understand this antipathy towards his character if there wasn\u2019t any resolution in the end, but there is. \u00a0He does begin to learn by the end of the film when his mother tells him that he cannot look for anyone to help him create his movie but himself. His mother, played beautifully but also briefly by Sophia Loren, is dead; therefore, it is\u00a0Guido<\/em> realizing that he must rely on himself.\u00a0Guido learns that he must find a healthy balance between his creativity\/genius and his own life while still appreciating and loving the women around him who all come back to support him in the end.\u00a0I think if the viewer is more open to and less condemning of Guido the whole film will seem much more natural and less confusing. Because if you listen the songs guide you through the movie beautifully.<\/p>\n

That leads me to the next major issue critics are having, which is that the music isn\u2019t that great and neither are the singers. I\u2019d like to make a small side-note here and remind the many people excessively comparing this movie to Chicago<\/em> that, in terms of musical performance, that movie was no better. I love the film, but Renee Zellwegger is a mediocre singer, and to anyone with an even slightly trained ear Richard Gere\u2019s \u201cRazzle Dazzle\u2019m\u201d performance is practically unbearable. In Nine<\/em> the music is a good balance between over-the-top and subdued, and again if you get<\/em> musicals and their purpose you know that not every song should be a huge number.\u00a0The musical numbers range from big theatrical acts like Fergie\u2019s major \u201cBe Italian\u201d number to a softer yet equally beautiful number like Cotillard\u2019s \u201cMy Husband Makes Movies.\u201d It\u2019s important to note the range of style used because this range gives the movie a smoothness that balances out the more frenetic actions and emotions of Guido. If all of the numbers were big like \u201cBe Italian\u201d or \u201cFolies Bergere\u201d the audience would feel overwhelmed and confused. One has to listen<\/em> to some of the songs a little more to fully extract their beauty as opposed to just being blown away by all of them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\u201cShe sings what they can\u2019t talk about\u2026\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every singer, while there are some better than others, either has the voice to carry the song or (like Judi Dench) manages to make the song so interesting it doesn\u2019t matter that she\u2019s not the best singer. If I speak about performance at all, I have to mention Marion Cotillard\u2019s incredibly graceful and under-stated portrayal of Louisa. Her songs in particular showcase the power of a musical by adding voice when\u00a0dialogue alone fails.\u00a0The song \u201cUnusual Way\u201d performed by Nicole Kidman does this as well and is about the very unconventional relationship between Claudia (the muse) and Guido (the artist). She sings about very conflicting and nuanced emotions that are easily missed by someone anticipating a different version of a \u201cBe Italian\u201d performance. And she sings what they can\u2019t talk about, which is one of my favorite techniques in a musical.\u00a0\u00a0All of the numbers do this really, but these songs are just exceptionally powerful because of the contrast between dialogue and music. The music should\u00a0and does<\/em> not only hypnotically dazzle and entertain but also quietly woos and guides the audience.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also been some whining about how the film is about Italians but not played by Italians. Is this a mistake? Yes. Is it unforgivable? Hardly\u20143 words: West Side Story<\/em>. People have yet to discredit that film based on the fact that Rita Moreno is the only actual Latina in the whole film<\/p>\n

The only major gripe I have with the film, that seems to have been largely ignored by most, is its tendency to overstate itself. One moment specifically is a few scenes after Guido invokes his Muse (Claudia) which is all done in silence with a chorus of women singing \u201cla la las\u201d in the background, he then goes on to sort of recap what happened for the audience, which I hate. He says something like \u201ca \u00a0woman enters a room and kisses him\u2013his muse\u2026\u201d\u2013I wanted to remove that line completely. I blame the writers for these instances of over-statement and maybe it\u2019s just Minghella\u2019s style because he does have the characters vocalize what the audience should be subtly picking up on in his other movies like Cold Mountain<\/em> and probably less so in The Talented Mr. Ripley<\/em>. It\u2019s as if he doesn\u2019t trust the director\/actors\/ and (in this case) songs to get the point across to the audience so he has to actually put it down in words. It\u2019s like when you eat an amazing dessert and you think \u201cthis is so good but it\u2019s just a little too sweet\u201d then you wonder \u201cis there such a thing?\u201d Yes there is! You can over season food just like you can over-state a theme in writing. The movie just needs to rely on the viewer\u2019s trained\u00a0palate\u00a0a little more\u2014but I would give that same criticism to a lot of movies. So I\u2019m not picking on Minghella or Nine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The film reminded me of so much of what I love about musicals. They\u2019re generally considered a fairly fun genre, especially in the past couple of years with movies like Mamma Mia, Hairspray, <\/em>and that which shall not be named (High School Musical 3)<\/em>. I think to fully enjoy Nine <\/em>you have to remind yourself that there are different types of musicals to fit different characters. If a character is more introverted and tortured then to a certain degree some of the music will be as well.\u00a0And I\u2019m not saying Nine <\/em>isn\u2019t fun\u2013it is! It\u2019s dirty and seductive in the best possible way and can be likened to a good martini\u2013it burns so smooth.\u00a0The \u201cfun\u201d movies do good and bad things to the genre, and I love a big, loud, bordering on cheesy musical any day, but Nine<\/em> and musicals like it (I\u2019m thinking Cabaret<\/em> specifically) remind the viewer that music is not only the natural expression of happiness and fun, but it is the natural expression of \u201cmore than everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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