Film federico fellini movie#

We gaze at vast oceanside vistas, float on plastic oceans, and peer down windswept city streets at night. Fabulously dressed people cavort within ancient buildings, spontaneously breaking out into song and dance. FelliniвЂ™s films can be like wandering from room to room at a vast and colorful party, perpetually overflowing with the rich and strange. His characters are often figuring out the plot along with you, they sometimes wander through their own stories as they unfold, as intrigued but curious as the audience is about exactly where theyвЂ™re headed, the narrative progressing with all the surreal inevitability of a dream. Amarcord, whichВ IвЂ™veВ finally decided is my favorite,В takes us onВ aВ grandВ tour through a fictionalizedВ townВ muchВ like Rimini,В butВ was inspired by a moment whenВ FelliniВ realized that heВ couldnвЂ™tВ remember if hisВ ownВ memoriesВ of childhoodВ wereВ actuallyВ realВ orВ imagined. These days, theВ film-within-a-filmВ structureВ hasВ probablyВ goneВ stale fromВ overuse.В MaybeВ inВ theВ older filmsВ the reflexivityВ stillВ seemsВ novel.В PlentyВ of directorsВ did it before him, butВ FelliniВ arguablyВ gotВ moreВ emotional truth and visual depthВ out ofВ itВ than anyone.

ConsideringВ all theВ chaosВ that comes withВ making anyВ film,В let alone one as complex as 8 ВЅ,В the fact that it all somehowВ comesВ togetherВ feels miraculous.В The filmвЂ™s unofficial motto was written underneath the cameras:В вЂњremember, this is a comedy.вЂќВ AndВ so,В it is.

Film federico fellini movie#

This sounds likeВ anyВ artistвЂ™sВ ultimate fantasy, butВ itВ turned intoВ a living nightmareВ for a successful director in his early forties.ДЇellini lookedВ around at all those supportive faces andВ instantlyВ feltВ like an utterВ fraud.В He had everything heВ could ask forВ at his disposalВ and no idea what to doВ with it.В Out of sheer desperation,В he wound upВ making a movie about a director who is having a breakdown while trying to make aВ movie, taking us onВ aВ multilayeredВ trip throughВ hisВ alter egoвЂ™s unconsciousВ asВ heВ triesВ (and often fails)В to figure everythingВ in his lifeВ out on the fly. Fellini had already made aВ name for himself withВ Oscar-winningВ parablesВ of the human conditionВ like La StradaВ and La Dolce VitaВ and everyone atВ RomeвЂ™sВ CinecittaВ studios was excitedВ to workВ withВ him. ItвЂ™s easy to see how compelling these films were from the imaginative movie posters taken from around the world.ДЁ ВЅ - whose working title was вЂњthe beautiful confusionвЂќ - isВ oftenВ considered his masterpiece and a contender for one of the greatest movies ever made.В ItВ allВ started with a nervous breakdown. CriterionвЂ™s lovingly designed career-spanning box set resembles an old scrapbook salvaged from an imaginary circus. His way of mixing grand opulence with postmodern unease made him an essential fixture in world cinema from the postwar era well into the вЂ70s. Fellini basked in his artificial worlds while self-consciously placing his all-too-human fears and anxieties in the center. Fellini started off as a cartoonist after he moved to war-ravaged Rome and never lost that comic sensibility.ДЄs delightful as FelliniвЂ™s storytelling often is, it burrows underneath luscious surfaces and zany caricatures in order to discover the humanity squirming beneath all the glittering surfaces. This type of vision works best in visual mediums, where the image carries the most meaning. Everyone is performing, clad in outrageous costumes and masks, creating a transparent carnival where the extraordinary is reality. Fellini had a lifelong fascination with the circus as a magical space where everyday reality is transcended, enhanced. But we shouldnвЂ™t shrug it off entirely either: thereвЂ™s truth to be found in a tall tale, even if itвЂ™s told by your wicked uncleДЇactually true or not, the essence of FelliniвЂ™s filmmaking is in that anecdote. Yet considering that Fellini openly admitted to being вЂњa born liar,вЂќ we donвЂ™t have to take his yarn at face value. Quite an experience for an imaginative little fellow.

While wandering awestruck under the big top, he hung out with circus folk and wound up tending to a sick zebra. When he was a young boy, maybe about seven or eight years old, Federico Fellini stole away from home in his small seaside resort town of Remini and joined the circus.