REVIEW: NINE - THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

While we await its theatrical release with baited breath, Universal Music Canada sent me the best early Christmas gift - an advanced copy of the soundtrack for Nine. The film, based on the play of the same name, is inspired by the story of legendary Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini and takes place around the time Fellini underwent a creative drought making his acclaimed masterpiece, 8½. Replace Fellini with the character Guido Contini plus a very sexy female cast of award-winning entertainers as his lovers, and there you have the most eagerly anticipated movie musical in quite some time.

Just looking through the album’s track listing, I could not help but be filled with curiosity how Pénelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Dame Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson and the film’s main star Daniel Day-Lewis, would fare as singers. Nicole Kidman, many of us already know is an adequate vocalist as seen in one of her career best roles in Moulin Rouge. And well, Grammy winner Fergie needs no introduction. 

Rob Marshall and John DeLuca arranged for the cast to record the film’s tracks in London late September 2008, about a month before shooting began. The results though are mixed, but there are some incredible surprises to be found. For one, Music Director Paul Bogaev does an excellent job setting the musical landscape of Italy in the ‘60s, when the story takes place. Day-Lewis is first introduced to us on Guido’s Song and although he is not blessed with an amazing voice, he still does a very credible job tapping into the psyche of a man in a midlife crisis. With the abundance of cast members the material is dispersed, meaning at most, the cast members are responsible only for one or two numbers each. 
Producers