Nine
Kate Hudson stars in Rob Marshall's new musical, "Nine."
“Nine” has precisely one truly great moment in it and that moment comes late in the film when a vivacious Kate Hudson bursts into a performance of “Cinema Italiano.”
“I love the cinema Italiano,” sings Stephanie (Ms. Hudson), an American fashion journalist in director Rob Marshall’s new musical “Nine, a film that wants desperately to be better than it actually is. For most of “Nine,” Marshall works overtime to convince us that his project exists as a labor of immense love for Italian cinema.
And, for most of “Nine,” his efforts come up short of persuasive or compelling.
That is shame because only a few short months ago the mere idea of putting actor Daniel Day Lewis (“There Will Be Blood,” “Gangs of New York”) in a musical helmed by the director of “Chicago” sounded nothing less than tantalizing. Because, as we know, Lewis is especially known as an actor who carefully chooses which projects he undertakes.
Here, he plays Guido Contini, a famous Italian director in the mold of Fellini. The film tells us that Contini’s films have defined Italy as such for much of the world. It also tells us early on that Contini is suffering something of a professional and existentialist crisis as he prepares to write his next film, an epic aptly named “Italia!”
The problem for Contini is that he has no idea what to write exactly. Moreover, he lacks inspiration for a story; his muse, actress Claudia (Nicole Kidman) is nowhere around, his mistress Carla (Penelope Cruz) wants very much to serve as inspiration for his next project, perhaps too much as Contini seems increasingly turned off by her growing attachment to him, and his dead Mamma (Sophia Loren) seems to haunt his every decision.
Yes, Senor Contini is a man with woman troubles. His costume designer Lili (Judi Dench) acts as a sort of mother figure, doing her best to keep the philandering director in line while finding herself charmed by the auteur, as well. His wife (Marion Cotillard) once acted in the director’s films but now spends most of her time waiting for him to return home.
Based on the popular play of the same name, “Nine” really wants you to feel for Contini and his plight.
It is difficult to oblige.
The opening number has the various women in Contini’s life on display and expertly choreographed. Where the film wants us to empathize with Contini and his predicament, it never quite manages to convince anyone really paying attention that Contini, the man we’re supposed to care about, is actually worth caring about.
In its way, “Nine” tries to make itself about art and what makes film, well, film. But, this film is very boring in its responses and only rarely interesting in asking its questions. It only ever really manages to present Contini as a deeply flawed man, a philanderer but never really anything more interesting than that. We never know much about his work except that it seems to mirror the work of Italian director Federico Fellini. “Nine” is disinterested such matters, spending much of its time focusing on Contini moving from woman to woman as he tries to make sense of their presence in his life. What he learns from this—largely seen in the musical numbers that appear on screen— supposedly guides the film he ultimately makes by the film’s conclusion but what happens in between oscillates between boring and predictable.
The musical numbers, while generally lovely eye candy, are mostly forgettable save for the moment Hudson takes to the stage. Her performance—yep, that’s her voice— is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise serviceable film, one that seems designed to trick unsuspecting Oscar voters into believing they’ve just been razzled and dazzled. Only here does Marshall’s camera come alive as he recreates a fashion runway show where Hudson’s character declares her love for Italian cinema in a way that the film itself only seems capable of doing with its hollow declarations and lush images of Daniel Day Lewis by the Italian seaside.
“Nine” seems not to know what exactly it is or what it wants to say. There is little justification for the musical numbers except that the film is based on a musical. Are those numbers in Contini’s mind or the mind’s of other characters? Is that moment where Contini’s wife belts out her emotional rebuttal in her mind or his? Shouldn’t we know?
We’re never sure with “Nine” and you might find yourself not really caring either way.
Pop star Fergie, ahem, Stacy Ferguson, appears in the film as a scantily clad, sultry whore from Contini’s memories as a sexually curious adolescent boy. Weirdly, the moment comes and goes, no real electricity or excitement.
The same is true for “Nine.”
Grade: C
