I won’t pretend to know what it is like to be an artist. I’m far removed from that moniker. I’m simply a viewer. I pay for a ticket. I sit in my seat and I wait for directors to move me. Who knows why I’m so in love with movies. Movies are escape. They always have been. Sometimes I go to the moon in a movie and sometimes I simply go to Italy. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand the torturous process of creating something, something personal and all yours.
In 1962 Federico Fellini began filming 8 ½. It was an semi-autobiographical film about the struggles a director must endure to make art. It was a pretentious film designed to make the audience feel pity for the artist or Fellini. If there is one thing we as a people must never do it’s feel pity for artists. Especially performance artists. What the hell is wrong with those people?
I know this review has taken a drastic turn but bare with me. Fellini’s 8 ½ led to dozens of imitations. Each film was a personal narrative of the respective directors and their struggles to create their films. It’s annoying to think that there is a sub-genre in film about struggling artists. This is understandable if we want to talk about Jackson Pollack or Jean-Michel Basquiat or some other truly struggling artist from an outsiders perspective but to watch an autobiographical film from within the directors head, that is too much. Directors choose to become directors. No one forces them. They’re so pampered that I doubt they know the real definition of struggle.
Maybe my parents raised me better. Maybe I find this annoying because I feel real men don’t cry. At least not in front of anyone. (Although I do it all the time.) I’ve struggled. I’ve seen people struggle and only artists seem to have the luxury to wallow in it. Everyone else has to see a counselor and hope they don’t commit suicide. Although many artists do.
What’s my point? I don’t know. I guess it’s that I didn’t like 8 ½. Why am I telling you this? Well I saw Nine last night. It’s based on 8 ½ and I loved it. I know confusing huh? Well if I’m anything it’s inconsistent.
Nine is a film adaptation of the 1982 stage adaptation of Fellini’s 8 ½. Nine tells the story of director Guido Contini. Contini is struggling to come up with a script for a film that is already in production and only days away from shooting. His struggles play out as internal musical numbers involving all the muses of his life. He calls upon them to help him get through his next film.
Each muse is given her own musical number. Her story is told and Guido is able to move on. The cast includes Kate Hudson and everyone else falls under the cliché of All-Star Cast. (See what I did there? I said that Kate Hudson is not part of the All-Star Cast. Hope you got that. Wasn’t sure it was clear.)
I could name everyone but I won’t. I’m going to name the ones who blew me away: Daniel-Day Lewis, is amazing as always. Marion Cotillard was by far the best of the women. She blew me away in La Vie En Rose. Her musical numbers were so emotionally charged that I wonder if I would even like the movie without her.
Now if Kate Hudson wasn’t in it I know I’d like the movie even more. I just have one question for Rob Marshall: Why Kate Hudson? I don’t understand her presence in any film after Almost Famous. I wish my parents were famous, because then I could follow in their footsteps despite the fact that I have no talent whatsoever.
Anyway, I know I barely talked about Nine. Instead I spent most of my time bitching about celebrities and artists but see Nine. It’s filled with celebrities playing artists but it works this time. It works because I feel as if the struggle is more real and I feel as if Guido has taken on the role of every artist. He has the weight of the collective artistic struggles on his shoulders and he feels it.
Once you’ve seen the film come back and tell me if you’ve seen a more beautiful ending for a film this year.
