Federico Fellini's Oscar-nominated 8 1/2 is a masterpiece of storytelling and cinema. The most autobiographical of Fellini's films, the plot of which concerns a 43-year-old film director who is having a midlife crisis, it is a career benchmark for this magnificent Italian New Wave director. Beautifully choreographed with flashbacks, dream sequences, exaggerated fantasy scenes, and magical surrealist episodes, 8 1/2 is one of the richest, most exuberant movies ever made, in the mode of Fellini's artfully abstract LA DOLCE VITA and AMARCORD.
Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) is at a crisis point in his life and his work; in the opening sequence, Guido, suffocating, is caught in traffic with the windows of his car locked shut. He climbs out of the sunroof and literally rises up over the highway into the clouds, seemingly free, when he realizes there's a rope tied around his ankle that is violently pulling him back to earth. Cutting from this dream to the health spa where Guido is trying to recapture his creativity and write the screenplay for his next film, his vices become clear: Guido is self-absorbed, and he's distracted by the fabulous cast of actresses, intellectuals, and eccentrics who have joined him at the spa. Additionally he struggles with Freudian complexes about his wife (Anouk Aimee), his lover (Sandro Milo), his ideal woman (Claudia Cardinale), and his dead parents; and his repressive Catholic guilt follows him everywhere like a haunting mist.
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You have just stumbled upon my favorite movie of all time, Fedrico Fellini's "8 1/2".
What is "8 1/2" and what makes it so wonderful?
It is a fictitious (at time) semi-autobiographical work about a top film director when he approaches a moment in life when he feels that all of his talents and inspirations have washed up. This could also be said of the main character's personal life as well, seeing as he unsuccessfully attempts to balance a dry romantic relationship with both his mistress and his wife.
The film is seen very much from the director, Guido's, point of view, even to the point of allowing the audience to go along with him to various points in his childhood where we find some of the most compelling parts of the story. But not all ventures into this man's mind are that of retrospect. Being a film director, he sees thing in a very different way than most and often times retreats into his own imagination to find a false sense of refuge from nagging producers, writers and actors (as well as a tap dancing sailor who has been promised a roll in Guido's film, currently in pre-production), only to be pulled back down to earth by those that he is trying to escape.
I love this movie because it hits me on a personal level. I am an independent film maker myself, looking to make my first feature in the spring of 2008. This film takes you to moments of uncertainty in the character, great beauty, understanding and ultimately, the most joyous ending in film history.
I would eagerly recommend this film to anyone who has ever dreamed, or whose largest feeling nerve in their body is one's heart. See this film.
P.S.: Overstock.com has the best price on the net for this particular flick!
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