Fellini's 8-1/2 (1963)

Recently I had the chance to view several Fellini films as part of a film appreciation course. If you missed the last posts I did in this series, I've written some opinions on I Vitelloni, La Strada, and La Dolce Vita.

My take on 8-1/2, which I finally saw in its entirety, is short and to the point - I'm not a big fan of it. I like dream sequences, but this film pushed the whole dream thing to the limits for my tastes. I was going to review this movie 11 months ago, originally intended as a double review with Nine, but I put it off when I no longer wanted to see the poorly reviewed Rob Marshall-directed musical.

Many people remember seeing this film for the first time in college, like someone I know who saw it three times on his college campus when it came out in the '60s. I tried watching it several times but could only take it in pieces since college, unable to find the right mood to watch it in its entirety. When I finally got the chance (during my appreciation course), it was the day that Elizabeth Edwards passed away, and I was sad because i just heard the news. I remembered her philandering husband, John Edwards who cheated on her while she was battling cancer, and incidentally has been voted #1 A-hole of the decade. So again I was not in the mood to watch a film about a womanizer, and didn't like the cutesy scenes in with the wife and the mistress together. In real life, Fellini was married to Giulietta Masina for 50 years. And she, like Mrs. Edwards, stayed loyal while her spouse had black-and-white dreams of chasing skirts. Felllni might have loved "women", but deep down he truly loved only one woman - Giulietta.

The instructor of our film class said she didn't like it at first when she first saw it many years ago, and as a woman, took offense at it. But after many viewings she grew to love it more. But I'm not sure I have the patience to watch it again anytime soon. Very interesting to look at visually, but I just couldn't put it all together.

So I don't really have much else to say about this one, other than the next film I'll discuss, Amarcord, which I liked much better.

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If you are interested in reading more about the film....

These bloggers had some great posts on the film and helped me to understand it.

1,001 Movies
Review of 8-1/2
Fey liked this film the second time. Maybe I should give it another viewing. Eh, maybe later.

On Chicago Theatre:
Discussing 8 1/2, Part One
Discussing 8 1/2, Part Two

Antagony & Ecstasy:
In Which All Our Dreams And Hopes Are Broken

Common Sense Movie Reviews:
Review of 8-1/2

The Movie Encyclopedia
Review of 8-1/2

John Likes Movies
Review of 8-1/2

Cinemascope:
Review of the film 8-1/2

A Life In Equinox
Review of the film 8-1/2

Screen Insight
Review of the film 8-1/2

The Predictability of Stupidity: Movie Reviews
Review of the film 8-1/2

Another review from the blog Confessions of a Film Philistine

Another review from Korova Theater Presents

Video review from Deep Focus Lens: