Saturday, January 09, 2010

Worth the Trouble ...

Those of us in the Tall City wishing to enjoy Bob Marshall's "Nine" must invest a little more time, a little more trouble than we normally would to see a movie ... but it's worth it.

The film is based on based on the book for the Tony Award-winning musical of the same name, which was derived from an Italian play, which itself was inspired by Federico Fellini's autobiographical film "8½." The film follows the tangled life and loves of celebrated Italian film director Guido "Maestro" Contini (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) who must deal with a midlife crisis that is stifling his creativity, and complicating an already complicated number of romantic involvements.

I've wanted to see the film ever since I caught the trailer for it on
HDNet TV's "Nothing But Trailers." The trailer suggested colorful and high-spirited musical numbers, and an all-star cast that included Lewis as well as Judy Dench, Penélope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren. But seeing the film itself, proved to be problematic.

I didn't realize that demand in the Tall City for a film like "Old Dogs" continued to be so strong that the local cineplex couldn't devote at least part of that screen's schedule to "Nine" ... or maybe the film came-and-went through Midland quickly, and I missed it.

Oh, well ... off to Odessa, then, where the film was sharing a screen with another film, and was showing only once-a-night. It's not the first time we've headed to Odessa to catch a film that never made it onto the screens in Midland, and that meant extra time and trouble ... but it was worth it! The film offers a story that gets its hooks into you and holds you, mixing comedy and pathos ... words - and music! - delivered by that all-star cast ... those sparkling musical numbers that I mentioned ... and an ending that I absolutely loved.

I recommend the film ... AND I recommend seeing it right away ... I suspect it will soon be gone from Odessa's cineplex as well.

3 comments:

Geo said...

I didn't realize 8.5 had been so inspirational to thespians. That was the type of movie that was popular at college campus cinemas a while back.

Campus cinemas seem to have gone by the wayside. Too bad Midland College doesn't have one where Nine might someday make an appearance as a double feature with 8.5.

Jeff said...

Wow, George ... you really take me back. When I was at UNM (30+ years ago), we had a pair of cinemas - one on-campus, and run by the Student Union; and the other across the street from the campus, a private business, Don Pancho's. Between the two, we had a GREAT selection of films showing.

As for "8 1/2" ... yes, very influential ... some will argue it was Fellini's best.

That Janie Girl said...

We loved this movie!