jk-rentzke This is awful. Chicago was horrible but this is horrific. The singing is rubbish, the acting terrible and the filming absolutely atrocious. The terrible fake Italian accents put me off from scene one, and got progressively worse from then onward. THe singing was possibly even worse than the accents.Daniel Day Lewis and Judi Dench were the worst but the others not much better.I was hoping that at least the cinematography would make up for the weak plot and non-existent storyline, but alas it was not to be. False backgrounds and unrealistic shots of Rome and Italy were the final straw for me. I won't even comment on the lighting, it is not even worth mentioning.I cannot fathom how this movie got nominated for four Oscars. Just awful.

cvetkovski_ikee Every artist at some point in his life ends up being lost and wants to escape his own reality. He creates his own world by his own rules, lacking inspiration and things to say. Then lying becomes a habit and everything goes out of hand. But in the end of the day, we know that art is about beauty and therefore it has to be about truth. With "8 1/2", Fellini found a way to free himself from all the things that he carried on his back. He opened his heart to the world and broke all the rules of cinema, making one of the best author movies ever.The subject of the both films is the director's own struggle. However, "Nine", was a totally different film. In my opinion "8 1/2" is about Fellini himself, whereas "Nine" is about Fellini's life seen through Rob Marshall's eyes. It felt like i was watching "8 1/2" in color. Nevertheless, i had some problems with the beginning of the film. It was too long before i caught up with the character's empathy and confusion, until very late in the film, when Kate Hudson "stole the show" with a very brief but amazing performance of a woman from a fashion world. Eventually, every woman in the film brings different tone and shape of Guido's world. They are all part of his chaotic life."Nine" obviously does not have the depth of "8 1/2", but the musical sequences which intersect the narrative, every time some of the characters want to confess something, give the film a more playful and cheerful tone. I found them very helpful for the story and liberating at time. Daniel Day Lewis did a really good job as Guido Contini, being a confused but lovable director, who lost his touch with reality by wanting to be everywhere at the same time, when in the end ends up being in a labyrinth of lies. "Nine" is also some kind of American tribute for the Italian neorealism, one of the best and sexiest periods of cinema as well. This is a film about every person who is lost and finds it very difficult to be present in his own reality. It's always hard to make your work personal, but that's the only way. Thus, you never have to lie. It is very important for an artist not to lie, and most important is not to lie to himself. 8/10

brchthethird The musical numbers are great and the production design is impeccable, but there is an underlying emotional connection missing that causes me (and presumably others) to ask "So what?". This musical, based on a stage production which was inspired by Fellini's 8 1/2, is about as insider (and meta) as you can get without falling into parody. And yet, perhaps some humor would have lightened up the dour atmosphere. The only thing that kept me interested were the songs, which offered a fantastical escape from the rather boring machinations of what little plot there was. Daniel Day-Lewis, as usual, does a fantastic job disappearing into his role as Guido Contini, a director having trouble with his next film project and with all of the various women in his life, but his character is fundamentally loathsome and little reason is given to care about him. The women (and sheer amount of flesh) on display are exactly that: displays. Little attention is paid to their characterization as well, and they enter and exit the picture at the whims of Guido's imagination. There is a moment late in the film, between Nicole Kidman's Claudia Jenssen(?) and Day-Lewis' Guido where he finally admits that he doesn't have a script, and therefore there isn't a movie. He intones that people don't come to see his movies for the script, instead to look at the fashion on display. While that might be enough for some people hoping to see some show-stopping musical numbers, that isn't enough for me. While brilliant individually, they do little to anchor down a consistent narrative. My advice would be to just go back and watch CHICAGO, which is a much better film.

roguehands I admit that I had never expected to be a fan of musical films (probably just because I hadn't even seen any, sseeeshh). Even so, I understand that we can't really expect much from what a musical film has to offer if compared with the real on-stage musicals, just like how the world inside a book will always beat the movie version.But i guess that's what surprised me when i finally watched this film. OK,I obviously know nothing about whatever original version of this musical, but what i gathered from watching this film is that i completely felt like i was watching a frikkin musical on a frikkin stage for the whole duration. Nine doesn't just offer a half-assed effort to create a 'daily-life-like' singing where people just suddenly feel like expressing their feelings through songs on the gd street. No, they don't bother with that. Instead, they present you the whole package by dragging in the stage, lighting, and the goddamn ambiance.It left you stunned a few minutes after the song is over as it gets back into the story, but that's what makes it a fun ride; it drags you along into the euphoria and misery that the characters sing about, and all of those while you're feeling like being there in the stage with them. Nine gives you an experience of both classic musical enjoyment AND modern cinematography.Seriously? with all the amazing actresses who starred in it and their spectacular solo stages, i couldn't stand other musical films afterwards because they all seem too bland compared to this one. but i guess it's just a matter of different taste after all.