Nine
Rob Marshall set the bar impossibly high with his 2002 feature film directorial debut, the glitzy big-screen version of Chicago.
Rob Marshall set the bar impossibly high with his 2002 feature film directorial debut, the glitzy big-screen version of Chicago.
Awards cluttered the mantelpiece, critics swooned and audiences flocked in their millions, continuing the revival that Baz Luhrmann sparked the previous year with Moulin Rouge!.
The sultry, jazz-infused tale of jailbirds Roxy and Velma became the highest-grossing musical of all time, and Marshall received an Oscar nomination for his work behind the camera.
His second feature, Memoirs Of A Geisha, was a poor fit so the choreographer turned film-maker sensibly returns to know he knows and does best: sequins, shimmying and big diva ballads.
There is razzle-dazzle in abundance and a stellar cast of talented singers for this visually-arresting adaptation of the award-winning Broadway musical, inspired by Federico Fellini's film 8 1/2.
Alas, while Chicago had a strong narrative and a memorable songbook, Nine boasts neither - just a series of brilliantly-staged yet emotionally-redundant musical numbers.
Moreover, Marshall consigns himself to the same indoor stage for almost all of these sequences, tethering the film firmly to its theatrical origins.
To compensate, he's reluctant to let the camera remain static for more than a few seconds, as if the constant motion will somehow invest the film with kinetic energy.
Film director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) suffers a crisis of confidence a little over a week before he is due to start shooting his new project, Italia, largely because he doesn't have a script yet, just a leading lady - his muse, Claudia Jenssen (Nicole Kidman).
Beset with worry, he seeks assurance from his shamefully-neglected wife Luisa (Marion Cotillard) and his sexy mistress Carla (Penelope Cruz).
Unconvinced, Guido pays visits - real and imaginary - to the other women who have informed his view of the world, including costume designer and confidante Lilli (Dame Judi Dench), fashion journalist Stephanie (Kate Hudson), prostitute Saraghina (Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas) and his mother (Sophia Loren).
Guido doesn't edge any closer to creating a script, and as his frustrations mount so his life gradually falls apart at the seams.
Nine seduces the eyes and the ears, but fails to win over the heart.
Day-Lewis surprises with a rich, deep singing voice and athletic grace in his opening number, Guido's Song, performed as he clambers over scaffolding.
Cruz is all legs and pouts as she tries to lure her man away from his spouse, in stark contrast to Cotillard's demure wife, who discovers his betrayal and sobs: 'You open your mouth and a lie comes out.
Why am I surprised? It's like breathing to you!' Female co-stars deliver one show-stopping performance after the next, yet when the curtain falls with a prologue set two years later, we don't give Marshall's film the standing ovation it expects.
Merely light applause.
Release Date: Saturday 26 December 2009
Certificate: 12A
Runtime: 118mins
