doubleosix

I attended the DGA screening over the weekend, followed by a Q&A moderated by James Cameron. Cameron's first words (after correctly referring to Scorsese as "maestro"), were "I thought we'd just geek out over 3D for a half hour, but having seen the movie... it's a masterpiece." I brought my ten year old daughter, who sat -- if anything -- even more transfixed than I did. Every single image is arresting, the use of 3D is perfection itself, the story is engaging and thrilling and heartbreaking and uplifting and I never wanted it to end. If only it'd be three hours! All the performances are excellent, including the kids. Great British actors appear in roles with only a line or two, but it helps lift the movie into the realm of Instant Classic, and Sacha Baron Cohen brings nuance and heart to his humorous role as the Station Inspector. On the way to the car my daughter asked if we could get the blu-ray when it's available, and I had the same feeling as well.

The film is beautiful, visually stunning, and exciting, and the cast is remarkable, especially Penelope Cruz (no surprise there), Marion Cotillard (her singing is wonderful), and the gal who blows the doors off -- an unrecognizable (to me, anyhow) Fergie! I was watching the credits to see who the hell played Saraghina, and was stunned to learn it was Stacy Ferguson. Go Fergie! Judi Dench is a smash as well. Nicole Kidman doesn't reveal anything we haven't seen before, but she does bring the large dollop of Movie Star shine for which her role calls. Even Kate Hudson pleases; her 60's go-go dance will inevitably bring comparisons to her mother's "Laugh In" heyday.

Having said all that, I honestly don't know who is the audience for this film. "Nine" was hardly the Broadway smash that "Dreamgirls", or "Chicago" was, and the score is entirely obscure. Additionally, do most people really care about the trials and tribulations of a self-involved, duplicitous 1960's-era Italian filmmaker? Does it matter? Do you have to actually like the protagonist to learn something from his experiences? Box-office-wise, this picture is going to live or die on the reviews, and people's interest in seeing these actresses shine. (I read here that Renee Zellwegger was under consideration for a role in this film... What a disaster that would have been!) And, of course, those who like seeing Daniel Day Lewis stretch new muscles (he chain smokes! He sings!) I enjoyed it very, very much... and now I'm very curious to see what the world thinks of it.

Once stuff stops blowing up, the movie has plenty of time (way too much time) to reveal how mindless and cliché-ridden it is. Frankly, the last half-hour or so of picture actually plays like a parody, with not one but two ticking clock countdowns.

Criminy!

Why on earth would you make a movie like this two and a half hours long? What could be thinking? Why give the audience so much "down" time to ponder all the various idiocies and atrocious dialogue herein? This movie truly gets worse as it goes along, which you don't see every day. So... I guess that's something.