Definitely no truth to that. In fact, even though I'm not a fan of "Cinema Italiano," I just read an article that really made me appreciate the whole number more, because the entire point of the song was a commentary on style-over-substance:
Enter Guido Contini ( Daniel Day-Lewis), world famous Italian filmmaker. Guido makes films that challenge him and his audience. Enter Stephanie (Kate Hudson), American fashion journalist and avid fan of Guido Contini's movies -- but for all the wrong reasons. She loves the style over the content. But his evocation of style and glamour in the seductive world he creates is a means to an end. He is hoping to delve beneath the facade when dealing with the characters and events in his films.
As a backdrop for Kate's "Cinema Italiano" musical sequence, director Rob Marshall and I wanted to convey the spirit and excitement of the exploding era of the '60s as models strut their stuff on the catwalk. The number starts with the rhythm of a drumbeat and escalates as Stephanie seduces Guido with her charm.
Reality and fantasy collide. The juxtaposition of these two worlds is the interesting and necessary spin for the number. The scene and the song intertwine, and what starts as a celebration ends up as a nightmare for Guido. He desperately needs to make a profound change in a deceitful life of lies and excess.
To conceive of an energetic '60s dance number for a true singer and dancer like Kate Hudson was pure joy. The discipline of dancers is sublime and we saw that Kate had it in her blood. We were hard on her, but she knew we wanted her to be the best she could be. She worked and worked and worked and never gave in to the strict demands of the number.
It was exhilarating imagining the driving beat and infectious energy of the '60s choreography for "Cinema Italiano" to help illustrate a dramatic turning point in Guido's life. The number found its way into the framework of the film only when the concept of the fantasy nightmare paid off in reality. Guido is slowly losing control of his fantasies. They, in turn, enlighten his predicament and begin to spotlight the dichotomy of Guido's psyche that leaves him trapped. He will have two choices -- self destruction or a requisite change.
http://theenvelope.latimes.com/news/la-en-lightsnine-2009dec09,0,4912797.story
Now, I'll admit, I didn't make that connection when watching the movie. But that was NOT the fault of Rob Marshall or the screenplay. Thinking back, I know all the signifiers were there, telling me this was happening to Guido. I just didn't connect them - I was too busy lamenting the fact that this was right around the time I should have been hearing "The Bells of St. Sebastian" (my favorite cut song from the show) instead.
There were other subtleties like that that I DID catch onto (the way the movie uses the character of Young Guido throughout was really well-done, IMO, and almost tells us more about the character's internal struggles than DDL does. Almost.), and I fear that like me, some of these bloggers may be missing some of them. So while it's not "style but little substance," it might be style
overpowering the substance, in that the viewer may be too distracted by the style to catch all the substance, if that makes any sense.
I mean, for what it's worth, it's certainly got more depth than "Chicago," (which I realize was a satire). And "Moulin Rouge," for that matter.
But you may be right - I could see how it might be a love-it-or-hate-it type of film. Not so much because of the style-over-substance thing (really the more I think about it, I think it has MORE substance than just about any film
musical I've seen), but because I've read some reviews saying it has no plot, or was boring. Well, it practically has the same plot as
8 1/2. So if you're bored with that type of plot, then
Nine really isn't for you.
I should pay more attention. Carry on....
