Review of Nine (2009) by Chads — 29 Dec 2009

"But I wonder how many fervent admirers he has today?" asks film historian David Thomson, at the end of his entry on Federico Fellini in "The New Biographical Dictionary of Film". Probably more, back in 1982 as the original production of "Nine" made its debut on Broadway, in which the crowds lining up for the Tony Award-winning show would be more hip to Fellini's "8 1/2", since the Italian filmmaker was alive, and that Woody Allen had brought attention to the 1965 classic when he used it as a template for "Stardust Memories", just two years earlier.

Today, however, the more suitable question, a question that nobody thought to have propounded on, before "Nine" was, at long last, finally given the green light, should have been this: "How many people out there even know who Fellini is?" The filmmaker has a problem, a pretty fundamental one, that dooms "Nine" from the start.

If moviegoers know nothing about this titan of Italian cinema, how are they supposed to sympathize with such an insufferable prick like Guido(Daniel Day Lewis)? Without the backstory of Fellini's celebrated filmography, in other words, without a working knowledge of film art(rather than film product: the event film, the blockbuster) as an excuse for Guido's transgressions, this artist with writer's block seems like nothing more than your garden variety womanizer.

"Nine" arrives at theaters too late. Film culture is dead. Far-removed from that whole "cult of the director" of yesteryear, even the most fervent admirer may now realize that "La dolce vita"(or "Amarcord", take your pick), would be no excuse for cheating on your wife, and then, in turn, cheating on your mistress, and so on, and so on.