Nine is a 2009 movie adaptation of a Broadway musical of the same
name which was in turn inspired by Federico Fellini’s semi-autobiographical
film, 8½. Guido Contini (Daniel
Day-Lewis) is a gifted film maker on the cusp of his fiftieth birthday. Struggling
for ideas on the back of a series of flops, he flees to a remote health spa and
turns to the women in his life for inspiration. The movie is notable for
containing several fleeting performances from some of the most beautiful and
talented women in Hollywood
as well as Kate Hudson. Although poorly received by critics and a certified box
office failure, the movie garnered four Academy Award nominations and in my
opinion contains some superb cinematography as well as a couple of great
performances.
The main problem with the movie
for me is that it isn’t 8½. There are
a few scenes, especially those featuring Day-Lewis and Penelope Cruz, which
look like shot for shot recreations of Fellini’s masterpiece and these bought
back happy memories of watching that movie. During a lot of the other scenes I
just wished that I was watching Fellini’s film. The problem with making a movie
based on such a well respected source is that you’ve got to make it pretty
special to make people want to watch yours instead of the film you’re basing
your work on. In the case of Nine, it
just made me remember how good 8½ is.
