nine

as a movie, nine, makes a great stage play.  which is what is was and what it should have stayed...except then we would have missed out on the wonderful performances presented by this talented cast. so, go to this musical but expect a parade of videos and you will leave happy. and may even buy the soundtrack.

"nine" started out in 1982 as a tony award winning best broadway musical version of fellini's autobiographical 81/2  starring raul julia (love and miss him) as guido contini/fellini, a celebrated director as the voice of his era who has come down with laryngitis- he's run out of ideas- but still expected to produce the next masterpiece.  as contini is hounded by producers and the press for a nonexistent screenplay he is imminently scheduled to shoot, the women of his life present him with his life in song and dance numbers.  a story that was also done in 1979 in bob fosse's also autobiographical "all that jazz".  in the 2003 revival of "nine" on broadway, guido was played by antonio banderas who won a tony as did the revival. the casting of daniel day-lewis was risky as he is not known for singing and dancing, but he is above all else a consummate actor and he acts the part of a singer of dancer just fine-  a singer and dancer is the middle of a breakdown.   in my research i did not find any production of this play in which guido contini was played by an italian- julia is puerto rican, jonathon pryce(love him)- english, banderas-spanish, john stamos-american and day-lewis- english.  marcello mastroni is the only one in the original 8 1/2.

what director rob marshal is best known for is production numbers- see "chicago". and that's what really shines here. who knew penelope cruz could sing? and boy howdy does she! she plays carla, the mistress.  jane krakowski of 30 rock won a tony for her portrayal of carla, but sorry jane i just can't see it after watching cruz- she is amazing.  as are her costars, fergie, from the black-eyed peas, plays a prostitute who obviously can sing but she really legitimately belts out the anthem of this film, "be italian", while throwing sand around. marion cotillard, who sang her way to an oscar in the edith piaf bio-pic, plays the wife and nicole kidman who also previously earned her musical chops, in "moulon rouge", plays the actress/muse. and even a corseted judy dench as the costumer lip syncs (she couldn't possibly sing in that outfit) a tribute to the "folies begere"  while sofia loren, as the mother, believably sings "guarda la luna", which is not in the original book,- better than i could!! but the best number in the film is kate hudson's.  although we've never seen her sing and dance before, we're not surprised she's her mother's daughter as she kills "cinema italiano" a sixties mod dance number written especially for the film.

marshal is generally being pounced on by the critics and i think that is mostly because "nine" is not "chicago". well, it isn't. but, it is a very entertaining succession of awesome production numbers featuring incredibly talented people. and that' good enough for me.