Be Italian!

Warning: Long blog ahead!

The other night, my sisters and I went to go see the movie Nine. This blog is going to be my personal review of the main actors in the movie, and my general opinion of it.

First, here is a little background on the movie. Nine is based off of the Broadway musical of the same name. The musical won the Tony for Best Musical in 1982, and the revival won the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical in 2003. The musical/movie is the story of an Italian movie director named Guido Contini, his struggle to create a new masterpiece, and the several women in his life.

In the movie, Guido is portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis. I thought that his performance was notable. Through his acting, he clearly showed how the character was feeling, and it did not seem forced or fake. His singing ability was also noteworthy, but not my favorite.

Guido’s wife, Louisa, is played by Marion Cotillard, who I had actually never heard of before this movie. I thought her performance was impressive. I loved the emotions she showed. She made me feel sympathy for the character. I also enjoyed her songs in the film. I think she sang them beautifully, and put all of the right emotions into them.

Penelope Cruz plays Guido’s mistress, Carla. Her performance was not exactly one I would go on about. I do think that she played the role well, and her acting was good. Her singing, however, was not remarkable. I mean, she hit the right notes and got the right feeling of the song, but it just didn’t blow me away.

The next woman in Guido’s life is an actress named Claudia, who has been in a majority of his movies. Claudia is portrayed by Nicole Kidman. Before seeing Nine, I had only seen Kidman play a singing part in Moulin Rouge, and I had forgotten she was even in the movie at all. I liked her performance in this movie. Her character, unfortunately, was not in a lot of the movie, but I think she played her small part extremely well. I also loved her song. I think she sang it beautifully, and it was one of my favorites in the whole movie.

The next actress I am reviewing is Judi Dench, who plays Lilli. It was a little tough to watch Judi Dench in this movie because I am actually a pretty big James Bond fan, and all I could see her as was M (Bond’s boss). Her role in this film was completely different from that boss type. Lilli is Guido’s friend and costume designer. It was a little weird to see Judi Dench playing this role because she was not so much of the leader type as she is seen in other films, and she wasn’t exactly prominent. It was also very odd to hear her singing. I think part of the reason it as weird was because her song had a French theme, and she sung it with a French accent. I did not exactly like this. I think she sang the song decently, but for some reason the French aspect of the song made me dislike it. Overall, I think Dench did a good job in this role.

Kate Hudson played an American journalist named Stephanie. Her role confused me a little. For some reason, it just seemed a little out of place. It was not really pertinent to the plot, but perhaps that is a result of changing the role between the stage and film versions of the musical. Despite my partial confusion, and the small size of the role, I think that Hudson did a fairly good job. I think she acted the role well, and I actually found her sort of humorous. Her song was a really flashy, big number with lots of dancing and sparkles and lights. I think she did notable job singing the song because it does not sound like an easy one to sing, but I just don’t like the song itself as much as some of the others.

The role of Guido’s mother is played by Sophia Loren. I do not have much to say about Loren’s performance, which, unfortunately, is a good and bad thing. I do not have much to say because I can’t remember her performance much, which is the bad part. The good part is that this means that she wasn’t so bad that I have to rant about her.

Finally, the last woman in Guido’s life is a prostitute named Saraghina. This role is portrayed by Fergie, and was easily my favorite in the entire film. Guido encounters Saraghina while he is younger (about 11 years old maybe), and she is sort of his first encounter with, for lack of better word, sex. Guido and his friends go to the beach and pay her to dance for them (because she obviously isn’t going to go the whole way with 11 year olds). Fergie’s one scene in the entire movie is Guido’s flashback to when Saraghina told he and his friends about love. The scene visual switches back and forth between the beach scene and more of a dance number on a stage covered in sand. I loved this number so much. Fergie impressed me with her singing ability. She was able to sing the song phenomenally while doing it with an Italian accent and putting all of the right emotions into it. The choreography of the scene was amazing as well. It involved a lot of tambourine moves with the sand on the stage, which created a really cool effect. This scene was definitely my favorite.

So, overall, I really enjoyed this movie. I am unable to say whether it’s a good representation of the stage musical it is based on, but I thought it was a very well done movie. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it should win all of the awards it is nominated for, but if you want to be entertained for about 2 hours, this is a good movie for it.