Be Italian!
It’s a hard thing being tasked with reviewing Fellini’s 8 1/2. The finest minds that ever deemed it necessary to critique cinema have all thrown their two cents into the 8 1/2 well. It is a film frequently ranked among one of the best films ever made. Film courses are devoted entirely to unlock it’s teachings. Sight & Sound think it in the Top 10, even the Vatican think it’s awesome. The Vatican!
If you are unfamiliar with it though it’s basically a cheap B&W knock off of Rob Marshall’s wonderfully amazing Nine. But 8 1/2 suffers the issue of not having Fergie singing in it. Instead we have to make do with Claudia Cardinale. The plot remains the same. Renown director Guido (Marcello Mastroianni) is beginning production on his latest opus, a sci-fi epic. Unfortunately he’s suffering from writer’s block and a general indifference to the world around him. Instead his mind begins to wonder in to daydream fantasies and reminisces of his past, then Nicole Kidman turns up. Does she? No that was the other film. Dammit. One the surface Guido is a man who gives little away emotionally, what we learn of him comes through his fantasies. The dreamlike sequences are the moments that he really becomes a director. Particularly a segment where he runs his own internal brothel, meeting out punishments and rewards to his harem. It’s the only occasion in the film where we see him act as a director, for the rest of the film he walks impassively around leaving others to only guess at what their roles are.
The main question for anyone who’s not seen it though probably is; is it any good? And to answer this we must go back to the beginning of time. The big bang happened (or God clicked his fingers), then a series of events occurred, then Federico Fellini made 8 1/2. Actually that helped nothing. Apologies. Much like his later films Satyricon, Amacord and City of Women, 8 1/2 works essentially as a series of vignettes tied to together with the overall theme that Guido is trying to make a film without an idea. Depending on how you choose to read it. The fact he is a film director could be entirely inconsequential. He is merely a man hitting middle-age looking back on his sexual history. Or the fact that he is director, the man who should be in control of all aspects of his life can only function properly within his own daydreams. That’s a pretty simple reading I grant you.
Often with Fellini’s films the humour can be boardy and a little broad at times. There is no particular story to become emotional interested in. So we sit back and watch Guido’s life unfurl via protracted meetings and extended dream sequences. Patience maybe tested if you’re not in the mood for a film that can sometimes feel like it is going nowhere fast. If your mind wonders you may end not having the slightest clue why people are now dancing around a rocket launch site. You may also wonder why you should care? Look deep within though and you may find the most perfect realization of internal desperation and frustration. A suitable break-down and the most elegant of mid-life crisis. If I’m honest with you I’m still trying to decide where I stand on it after having seen it twice. Maybe I should look into one of these academic course?
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