A fresh thought hit me as I watched this E.T. spot on Rob Marshall‘s Nine. One look at the Italian-suited, stylishly unshaven Daniel Day Lewis brooding and strolling around all these women and wearing that look of “oh, my…it just hasn’t come together yet, has it?” and I said to myself, “I don’t know if I care if DDL’s character has his vision together or not. I don’t know that a guy like this cracking the code and finding creative fulfillment is all that important to me.”:

I mean, I love Rome and the look of cavernous sound stages and the beautiful Amalfi coastline, but I don’t know that I relate to this world. Life is harder than usual right now. We’re dealing with a recession and all. The HPE has managed to get me evicted. And DDL is wearing great looking threads and tooling around in a cool sports car and fielding the attentions of several tantalizing women. What’s in this for me?

I’m also not sure if I cared all that much if Marcello Mastroianni‘s character had his creative ducks in order in Federico Fellini‘s 8 1/2 (i.e., the 1963 film that Nine is based upon). It was Fellni’s special surrealist atmosphere that kept you interested and aroused. I’m basically saying I don’t feel all that engaged in the ennui and emotional atmosphere of Nine. I know I’ll be seeing it soon but I’m not hungry to see it. Not like I’m hungry to see Invictus or Tree of Life or Zombieland or (sorry) Couples Retreat.