Sunday, January 21, 2007

8 1/2 (1963)


Directed by Federico Fellini. Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimee, Claudia Cardinale, and Sandra Milo.

In Fellini's quintessential film about filmmaking, his frequent collaborator Mastroianni stars as Guido, a celebrated director who has made a successful film and now struggles with the problem of doing a follow-up. Fellini's circumstances while making the film were similar, having just made the international hit LA DOLCE VITA, and Fellini to his credit didn't do anything to disguise this fact. Instead, he channeled his real-life difficulties into the story for this film, in which producers can't seem to understand why Guido cant get going on his film (particularly after they've erected an enormous launchpad set for use in the movie). Meanwhile, Guido finds his mind wandering back into the past, and he has to juggle the various women in his life, which comes to a head in an immortal scene where he unsuccessfully plays lion-tamer as all his women are gathered in one room. Much of the pleasure in watching this film comes from his direction, as the camera dances past actors moving as if to some distant tune.

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