BEFORE: Variations on a theme - I'm expecting something similar to "All That Jazz", I even put the two films back-to-back on a DVD. Both films feature a professional looking back on his life, the women involved in it, and the creative process. It's OK for two films to work off the same playbook - sometimes you hear two songs in the same day and realize how similar they are, like I did the other day while listening to the 80's channel. Listen to Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" and then Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and you'll realize how similar they sound. Oh, the words are different, but they're in the same key, with the same tempo and very similar background music. Sure enough, there's a mash-up on YouTube that proves how alike they are, you can sing one's lyrics to the other's music.
Linking from "All That Jazz", Jessica Lange was in the little-seen film "Masked and Anonymous" with Penelope Cruz (last seen in "Volver"), who's featured here.
THE PLOT: Famous film director Guido Contini struggles to find harmony in his professional and personal lives, as he engages in dramatic relationships with his wife, his mistress, his muse, his agent, and his mother.
AFTER: I thought that maybe the title referred to the nine women in the main character's life, but no, there appear to be only 7 (what, you couldn't add two more girlfriends?). Then I thought that maybe it referred to the 9 Muses of Greek myth, since the women seem to be his source of inspiration. Nope, it refers to the number of films he's made - which in its own way harkens back to the Fellini film this is based on, which is "8 1/2" - so named because he'd made that many films (sort of...).
I admit Fellini is a blind spot for me - I haven't seen "8 1/2", or any of his work. But at least this means I get to judge this film on its own merits, and not hold it up to the work of an Italian master.
Unfortunately, the main character here is stuck creatively, which to me never makes for an interesting subject. Making a film about NOT having an idea for your film is a lame cop-out, it's the opposite of being creative, and it's not the part of the creative process anyone wants to see. I can't tell you how many times I saw someone in film school making a film about NOT having a good idea for a film. It shouldn't be allowed.
Plus, if a professional filmmaker - Woody Allen, Scorcese, Spielberg - had no idea for his next film, do you think he'd assemble a crew and have hundreds of people ready to start shooting? No way! The script is everything, especially when you're trying to get the money and approval to make a film. Would you assemble a team to climb Mount Everest if you didn't have a map? I doubt it.
NITPICK POINT: If Guido took half the time that he spent complaining about not being able to write a script, plus half the time he spent avoiding writing a script, plus half the time hooking up with his girlfriend - and used it to sit down in front of a typewriter, I bet he'd have something close to a script, or at least an outline.
Plus we learn, for the third time this week, that men can't stay faithful. Especially not creative types like musicians or filmmakers, they all have to have several women as some mystical part of the creative process. It's an old song, and I'm tired of hearing it. I suppose a story about a creative person who stays monogamous doesn't create enough drama.
I suppose the Europeans also have a different view on this sort of thing - supposedly every French or Italian man has both a wife and a girlfriend, or is that just another stereotype? We Americans tend to think that's more accepted over there, or are we just secretly envious of their lifestyle?
Anyway, there's some nice eye-candy here as each of the women in Guido's life has a fantasy musical number, but it just didn't add up to a full story to me. And the only thing worse than a film about not being able to write a film is when that film they couldn't write turns into the film you're watching RIGHT NOW. Another cop-out. The only film that was ever able to do that successfully was "Adaptation".
Also starring Daniel Day-Lewis (last seen in "Last of the Mohicans"), Marion Cotillard (last seen in "Inception"), Nicole Kidman (last seen in "Far and Away"), Kate Hudson, Judi Dench (last seen in "Mrs. Henderson Presents"), Sophia Loren, and Fergie.
RATING: 2 out of 10 hotel rooms
No comments:
Post a Comment