I knew I just had to watch this movie from the first time I saw the trailer. And Nine surely didn’t disappoint my expectations. I expected it to be beautifully shot, which it definitely is. I expected it to be well acted, which it absolutely is. And I expected it to be sexy, which it is 100%.

The story I didn’t expect. Or at least I didn’t know anything about it. Famous Italian director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) is about to shoot another movie but doesn’t have a script or even an idea what the movie should be about. All he has is the title: Italia. What he also has are lots and lots of muses to help him create his stories. The movie is divided in two parts: One is the story of him and his problems with women and his producers and in the other part we see his fantasies of the women around him singing songs and dancing to express their emotion. Whenever he is with a woman his thoughts drift off into this dream world.

The Girls: Nicole Kidman is the star of all of Guido’s movies. She has a smaller part and although she is perfect for the role and I  usually like her I didn’t believe that she was upset in this movie. She was just giving a performance. I wasn’t impressed. As Guido’s wife Marion Cotillard gave an outstanding performance. Her I believed. She was truly hurting. I don’t think I have ever seen such a moving performance in a musical before. Penélope Cruz is funny as Guido’s mistress although I was surprised of just how sexy her dance was. That must have taken some courage to do in front of a movie crew. Sophia Loren seems the obvious choice for the part of the mother. She is wonderful but extremely lifted. Judi Dench is always great. She is the costume designer for Guido’s films and also takes on another mother figure for him. A sort of side character is Stacy Ferguson although she has the best singing act (Be Italian). This song is really well choreographed, she has a great voice and its just a fantastic song. I didn’t like Kate Hudson in this movie. She somehow doesn’t have the look of that time and her costumes and the song in her singing sequence seemed out of place and too modern. I do love that the movie has such an international cast. That seems to be unusual in movies and I always wonder why. Maybe thanks to globalization we will see more of this in the future.

But the real star of the film is Daniel Day Lewis. I think it is great that he was up for doing a musical. He seems to be mostly in very serious movies. He does bring a certain sincerity to the movie. He just is that character. I believed that he is Italian (excellent accent!), he certainly must have watched a lot of Italian films from that time. He is also charmingly in love with all of these women and it doesn’t come across as pervy how much he wants and needs them. And although he is really arrogant and self centered, he is likable.

The first half of Nine was a bit slow and all about Guido wanting women and being a ladies man but then the film really comes together and becomes a very moving story about an ultimately broken man who doesn’t know how he got to be the person who he is and who has lost focus on what is important in life. So looking back on it maybe the first, very sexy, part is needed to get to that point. I really enjoyed this movie. It has a great soundtrack and a very different story to what I have seen in musicals so far.

And the Oscar goes to…

…Hugh Jackman

His performance at the Academy Awards is worthy of an Oscar! He dances, sings, simply performs as if there is nothing on earth he would rather do! What a great host.

The whole show was new and exciting. There have been some great improvements. It feels quicker and there is a theme to it, showing the audience how a film is being made from make-up to editing to sound mixing etc.

As for the actual Awards: I am quite pleased with a lot of them. Penélope Cruz really deserved the Supporting Actress Award for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, WALL – E was my favourite for Best Animation and Sean Penn did a swell job on Milk, but what’s up with giving an Oscar to Heath Ledger? I love him, his acting and especially his Joker, but couldn’t they have given him an Honorary Award or something like that? It is so unfair to the actors who are still alive. Obviously they had no chance!

But now the best thing about the 81st Academy Awards: Kate Winslet finally got the Oscar she should’ve gotten five times before! And she gave such a beautiful speech.

After two fairly weak films (Scoop and Cassandra’s Dream) Woody Allen has done it again: Vicky Cristina Barcelona is an entertaining, amusing film with interesting characters and a sexy story.

Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) are two young Americans who want to spend the summer in Barcelona, staying with Vicky’s relatives. The two girls are very good friends although they have completely different personalities and opinions, especially when it comes to love. Vicky is engaged to be married to a man who, in her eyes, is nice enough to be a good husband, whereas Cristina is exploring different types of love and therefore getting hurt a lot.

In Barcelona the two of them meet the Spanish painter Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) who immediately invites them to join him on a weekend trip. Cristina persuades her friend to go on the trip. Both girls fall for him, which causes all sorts of trouble, especially when Juan Antonio’s crazy ex-wife (Penélope Cruz) enters the picture.

Scarlett Johansson is as irresistible as ever. Her character in this picture seems to be a mixture of her Charlotte in Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation and Nola in Match Point. She has some creative passion but is still trying to find how to express it, and at the same time she is very sure of herself, easily seducing Juan Antonio (not that it takes much effort, since he says he would like to sleep with both girls the first time he talks to them…).

I have to admit that I wasn’t aware of Rebecca Hall’s existence and I am not going to be a big fan, but she was right for the part and did her job well. Javier Bardem is certainly less scary then he was in No Country for Old Men, but somehow comes across a bit unsympathetic in this film. I don’t think I would have followed him anywhere. Penélope Cruz really steals the show. She is wild like a crazy animal and stunningly beautiful at the same time. A great role with the perfect casting.

So I quite enjoyed watching Vicky Cristina Barcelona. The story is not as intriguing as Match Point but the three main girls are great characters and it is a lot of fun to watch a part of their lives. The movie could have gone on forever, telling what happens after it actually ends.

Woody Allen could have been a bit more adventurous. E.g., he has Scarlett Johansson and Penélope Cruz kissing, but only for an unnaturally short time. It feels like he wants to do something sexy but doesn’t have the guts to go through with it. Nevertheless it is a great film.

(picture: flickr/Wolf Gang)