Synopsis: A year in the life of a small town in Italy in the 1930s, focusing mainly on one family.

Hmmm… I guess I just don’t like Fellini very much. Of the handful of his films that I’ve seen up to this point, I don’t think I’ve really liked any of them (I do remember liking Satyricon, but that was a while back, and is far from being one of the man’s most revered films). It comes as a bit of a surprise to me, because Fellini is one of those directors you’re supposed to like pretty much by default, at least as a film geek. And yet I don’t seem to particularly enjoy his movies.

I mentioned in my 8½ post that I remembered liking Amarcord — but I can’t say that I was particularly enthralled this time around. My first viewing was probably around ten years ago, and I’m pretty sure that I liked it. I don’t know why my opinion has seemingly changed; I guess I used to have a higher tolerance for handsomely made, meandering and egregiously slow-paced films.

Like 8½, I was definitely able to appreciate this film on a technical level, but I just didn’t derive all that much enjoyment from it. The movie was essentially a series of vignettes revolving around the inhabitants of a small Italian town; it kind of had a laid-back charm — and Nino Rota’s jaunty, memorable score was a perfect accompaniment to the visuals — but to be perfectly honest, after about fifteen minutes or so, I was sick of it. Almost none of the segments stood out to me as being anything other than a mild diversion. I’m sure they all had some kind of special significance to Fellini (the film is loosely based on his own childhood memories), but to me, watching them wasn’t much more interesting than going through somebody else’s old photo album (albeit an album presented with a fairly high level of visual flair).

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Synopsis: A beleaguered director starts pre-production on his latest film while going through a mid-life crisis of sorts.

I’m about to say something that you’re probably not going to agree with. No point in beating around the bush, so here goes: I don’t like 8½. That’s not to say that I hate it; there are some classic films where the appeal just completely eludes me, and that’s certainly not the case here — this is an exceptionally well made movie, and I can definitely see why someone might love it. But it just didn’t connect with me. I don’t know why. I won’t say I was bored, but I wasn’t exactly riveted.

One thing that I can unequivocally say about this film, despite my feelings on the movie as a whole, is that Federico Fellini’s direction is really top-notch. This is an amazingly good-looking film, and almost every frame looks great. Even when I wasn’t necessarily enthralled by the film itself, I was at least able to appreciate what Fellini had achieved on a visual level.

But… I don’t know, the movie itself I just found kind of dull, despite Fellini’s striking direction, and despite the presence of Marcello Mastroianni, who is one of those actors who can liven up a scene without even saying a word. I’ve liked some of Fellini’s other movies (in fact I’ll soon be revisiting Amarcord, which is a film I remembered enjoying), and this is, by most accounts, his masterpiece. Many call it one of the best movies of all time. And yet it just doesn’t do much for me. Oh well. I’m sure there will be a third viewing at some point in my future. Maybe I’ll like it better then.

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