Movie Musicals have been a part of cinema's history since soon after the innovation of sound on screen. They are spectacles of epic, yet often intimate stories told through song and dance. However, movie musicals are not the easiest films to write and produce. Execution of a top-quality movie musical requires a perfect storm of creative forces coming together at the right time with the right materials at their disposal. Nine (2009) came out in the winter of 2009 and was a movie musical based on a play (of the same name), that was also based on a movie, 8 1/2 (1963) . That's some pretty meta shit if you ask me.
Federico Fellini's semi-autobiographical story of Guido Contini, an esteemed Italian film director plagued by writer's block and the numerous women in his life, is a story of disparity and desire. It was no wonder that Rob Marshall, acclaimed director of the film version of Chicago (2002) chose to translate this tale back to the big screen. It has the glamour and glitz of any Hollywood blockbuster, which is also a part of its problem. The film, unfortunately, ended up falling severely short of expectations with both the critics and the box office. While the film has its many faults, it is still an enjoyable watch nonetheless, primarily thanks to its immensely talented ensemble cast. Where did the film go wrong? How do movie musicals that should be so easy to entertain, end up leaving us befuddled instead of bemused? I decided to use Nine as the test subject for this bewildering question.
Here are...
The Nine Do's and Don't of Movie Musicals.
9. Don't give it a complete rewrite.
If a musical is going from stage to screen, adjustments will need to be made so that the transition is smooth and effective. However, when the plot and story are changed too drastically, then the new version may get to the point that it feels reductive. The film version of Nine is not only altered greatly but is reduced to mere bones in certain areas of its skeletal story structure. This diminishes the psychological significance of the source material. You could also look at the film version of Rock of Ages (2012) to understand why complete story rewrites from stage to screen are a less than brilliant idea.
8. Do give the audience time to get to know the characters.
Movie Musicals are supposed to provide richly, memorable characters whose personal journey's are guided by music and dance. However, if the film is rushing to get to the singing and dancing before it gives us enough insight on who these people are and what they want out of life, the audience won't care what kind of songs they sing or how many tap dances they can do! Nine suffers from too short of a running time to give adequate enough character development to its characters. We have a brief introduction's to each before the singing starts, and they remain on screen for only a short time after. We catch fleeting glimpses into the lives of Guido and the women he loves, but we never watch them truly live and experience life.
7. Don't add characters unless they add significance.
While Kate Hudson is fabulous in her role as Stephanie in the film, she is essentially relegated to a glorified cameo as is the seriously underused Sophia Loren. Hudson's character is given little to nothing to do besides her 60's retro musical number "Cinema Italiano". She clearly represents temptation and Guido's insatiable lustful appetite, but she is not so much a character as she is a caricature. Her role could have easily been expanded had the writers been more thoughtful to how a female journalist may act and feel in a world dominated by powerful, successful men like Guido. Instead, she's more of a glossy groupie, and Kate Hudson already played that role much better in Almost Famous (2000). If your musical needs more characters, give them purpose, not just a glitzy costume and back-up dancers in sharp suits.
6. Do make good use of your setting.
This is something Nine got pretty right, its aesthetics. The use of the actual movie set as the setting for the musical numbers and the exquisite exterior shots of Rome in all its 1960's glory is extremely effective in setting the tone and vision for a film that's clearly about people obsessed with the visual images life has to offer them. Musicals are larger than life and Nine definitely resembles the renaissance of stylistic elegance that Italy was in the 1960's. That doesn't mean that the spaces are used well, only that they look good.
5. Don't end on a whimper
"You Can't Stop The Beat", "We Go Together", Moulin Rouge's "Finale Medley". Musicals should end on a high note, pun intended. If possible the last song should be an ensemble number, because all of the storylines have come to fruition at this point in the climax. If the last song isn't a showstopper, it should have emotional resonance, a profound statement of change and evolution in the characters lives. Nine fails at this, giving Guido, and the women, only an orchestral accompaniment as they quite literally take their final bows in the film's conclusion. Yes, his wife is returning to him, and he has matured and grown, that's beautiful, but this is a musical for God's sake, sing about it!
4. Don't do clichés, unless they work.
Many musicals are campy at heart, and this is not a bad thing. It's an inevitability of a fantasy world of song and dance. Grease (1978) camps up the '50s and Hairspray (2007) certainly made full-blown campiness out of the '60s. Nine almost restrains itself too much. It shows its beautiful Italian setting with aplomb, but never really dives into its intimate innards. The studio-set where the musical numbers are featured feels artificial in the worst way. If every musical number had the campy energy of "Cinema Italiano" and "Be Italian", the movie would at least feel more fun. Musicals are meant to be made BIG!
3. Do have a valuable message.
Musicals are not simply about singing and dancing just for the sake of it. Musicals are about an emotional build-up, about larger than life meanings and symbols being evoked through lyrical and rhythmic interpretations. If a musical has nothing to say, it doesn't matter how good the songs are or how mesmerizing the dance sequences are executed. Nine is a film that loses much of its meaning because the plot is significantly altered for the screen. The tale of a desperately conflicted man coming into his own with the aid of the underappreciated women in his life is itself undervalued and underwhelmed by glossy Hollywood melodrama.
2. Do contain, and take advantage of, chemistry amongst the cast.
Nine has a large ensemble of insurmountable talent, and from behind the scenes videos and cast interviews, it appears they all got on very well. On-screen, their chemistry is palatable enough, but unfortunately, most of the vibrantly talented women in the cast hardly get any screen time together. It's an unfortunate and unnecessary loss that if changed, could have helped elevate the film to greater depths.
1. Don't butcher the musical score!
Nine's greatest cinematic musical offense? The complete overhaul of the exquisite score Maury Yeston had created. The added songs don't do the film any wrong. "Cinema Italiano", "Guarda La Luna" and "Take it All" actually give the story more edges and curves rather than narrow it out into boredom. It is definitely a positive that Yeston, himself wrote the new songs. However, the film's story suffers greatly from Rob Marshall's poor misguided attempt at maintaining all the musical numbers inside the protagonist's head. It's even worse to know that several more numbers were filmed and then cut! Songs like "Simple" and "Getting Tall" give the plot of the musical its true meaning and invigorate audiences with the kind of passionate, poignant emotions one should feel when watching a musical of this stature. In the end, Nine cuts far too much and adds far too little to make up for it. It is simplified into insignificance, which is a shame because I believe its themes and messages have sizable weight to them. The musical score is the bone marrow of a musical, and it should be extracted and infused with great care and delicacy, for its implications are grand and purposeful. Nine may have missed the mark, but the incredible thing about musicals themselves is that they can still manage to entertain and bring delight even with faulty plot structures and mishandled musical scores. Musicals work on a level all their own.
Except for From Justin to Kelly (2003)....that movies just bad. In fact, it never happened.
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