Civil War (2024) and Zombieland (2009)

The new film Civil War is directed by the same director of Ex Machina, a movie I loved and think of as a modern masterpiece. This new film sounded really intriguing to me, and though I liked watching it I was a bit disappointed overall. I like the premise and potential to have a memorable comment on society but I saw it as more of a road trip/relationship movie. The title - in my opinion - is not what I would have titled it. Especially after recently visiting Atlanta and the southern USA and seeing some real 1800s civil war monuments and markers. The American civil war period of history is fresh in my head; I don't know what I would title this film, but not that. Yeah, there's a civil war going on in the background, but it is an ambiguous one, as it's not really clear what each side is for and against. 

Nevertheless, the movie's focus is more on the 4 main characters - photojournalists who want to capture and cover what is going on as best they can, and travel together from point A to point B in a car. Hence, a road trip movie. We get to learn a little about each character, and a little about each's motivations, but not as much; more depth to the characters could have been there. It's just an "Okay" movie to me. 

A memorable character is played by Cailee Spaeny, who plays a young rookie who looks up to Kristen Dunst's character. Though the characters have potential, I was not always convinced by what was happening and what they were saying; some of the dialogue just didn't seem to feel natural to me. For example, there's a scene early on where Dunst has to carry her luggage up 10 flights of stairs and Cailee meets her at the stairwell and says how much she wants to help. Dunst brushes her off but I would asked them to help me carry up the luggage. Also not once in two hours do we hear any of the characters talk camera tech. For example, no one talks about camera or about what zoom lens they're using or ISO or aperture settings. Not that we need to know, but a few drops of tech knowledge would give a sense of "yeah they really know what they're doing". And at one point Cailee even mentions a need to change film, but in the future - film is still being used? 

The movie ended on kind of a sad note, but also placed emphasis on the survival of the Cailee character. I walked away with the idea that this movie is really about the survival and resoluteness of her character, and her relationship with Kristen Dunst. This movie has something to say about staying neutral while documenting what is going on around you, no matter what side you are on. These characters don't have a side; they never talk about politics. Although a little opinion here and there might not have hurt.  I did enjoy the music and the soundtrack. 

I thought of Zombieland (and it's sequel) while watching this because I remembered it had been awhile since I saw it. I really enjoyed that movie and its sequel, which were also road trips during a dystopian/future era. What more do you need but a group of humans battling zombies and traveling together as a group, exchanging witty banter and cleverly observing their surroundings. After being a bit disappointed by Civil War, I think I may go and revisit those movies again. 

The podcast Film Junk recently talked about this movie in detail and had lot of interesting takes on it:
https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/30879823

Another Review from the blog Out There In The Dark: 
Out There In The Dark: Thoughts on the Movies: "Civil War"

A review from The Magnificent 60s

Critic After Dark

A review from Deep Focus Lens who also struggled with this film - 

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

The movie poster's tagline reads: "A Hollywood Story". It certainly is one of the most famous and best movies ever made about Hollywood life, even though fictional, and brilliantly co-written by Billy Wilder, who also directed. Much like "Streetcar Named Desire", it's a film that is just as much about the emotionally-needed and mentally-troubled leading lady (Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond) as it is about the man in her life who feels trapped and caught in the middle of something he never asked for (William Holden). Holden is an unemployed Hollywood screenwriter who accidentally enters the life of has-been silent film actress Norma Desmond, who lives in her own world and pays Holden to write her comeback film. Co-star Nancy Olsen has never been better as Holden's love interest, completely unaware that Holden has moved into Desmond's home and treated like a king while being smothered by the reclusive's love hungry tendencies. A morality play, about jealousy, neediness, fame, wealth. Billy Wilder was able to recruit some well known silent stars to appear in cameos: HB Warner ("Lost Horizon") and Buster Keaton, as well as director Cecil B. DeMille, who plays an important role in the story. Arguably, DeMille is probably most remembered for his role in this film than any of his other movies outside of "The Ten Commandments". Gloria Swanson herself was a silent film star, and this also her most famous role. Holden and Wilder worked together again in one of my favorites: "Stalag 17" two years later.

Citizen Kane (1941)

Orson Welles' great film about Charles Foster Kane, a wealthy media mogul who amassed fame, fortune and material goods, only to discover it failed to bring him happiness.

One of my favorite movies of all time.

With Joseph Cotton, Agnes Moorehead and Ruth Warrick as Kane's first wife.

Watched this movie in the summer of 2005 in Grant Park, Chicago.

Z (1969), State of Siege (1971), and The Confession (1970) by Costa-Gavras

This past summer I caught up with three excellent political thrillers directed by Costa-Gavras. All of them I highly recommend. They are among some of the best films I've seen this year or any year.

The first movie is Z from 1969. I remember watching this years ago when I was in high school but I was too young to understand what what going on. Now that I am older it makes so much more sense and it is very relevant today as it was then. It's called "Z" because Z represents the idealism and events surrounding the character portrayed by Yves Montand, a prominent peace activist beloved by all who oppose the radical martial law of the society. Those in the military and government want him and his followers silenced and/or killed. Early on in the film, Z is mortally wounded, but we - the audience -don't know how exactly, because the government spins the incident as "an accident". The mystery unfolds as the film progresses, but it's more than a mystery. It's an exploration into how various people and groups react and overreact in the aftermath of a crisis, and how so much is covered up by the government and the media. It's hard to describe the rest because there is so much going on with so many interesting characters, suspects, and twists. One of the most interesting characters to watch is the young lawyer assigned to investigate the case played by Jean-Louis Trintignant. Once you see this film you will not soon forget it. Also starring Irene Pappas. 2 Oscar wins: Best Foreign Language Film, Best Film Editing. Nominated for Best Picture and Director. Read Roger Ebert's 4-Star review: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/z-1969

Another blog post about this movie from Michael's Movie Palace here ->
50th anniversary tribute from Silver Screen Modes.

The next movie is State of Siege from 1971, which is just as good if not better than Z. Mr Montand is in the film again, this time playing an American ambassador in South America who has been kidnapped by a left-wing militant organization, something of a young person's movement against government corruption and abuse of power. The opening scenes - remarkably realistic - show a massive, militaristic manhunt unravel on the streets. Then, all of a sudden, the ambassador is found dead, the search is over, and things quiet down, and an elaborate state funeral takes place. This isn't a spoiler though, because the rest of the film brilliantly shows us the circumstances behind Montand's death. We are shown what happened after the zealots apprehended him and bring him to a remote, undisclosed location. He's questioned by left wing activists, who do not intend to kill him, even though fate would dictate otherwise. The most memorable character from the film is a veteran news reporter played by O.E. Hasse, who reminded me of Walter Cronkite; the reporter is present at all the major press conferences and always asking the toughest questions. Suspicious of the official statements, he does a bit of questioning and investigating on his own.

The third movie is perhaps the most intense of all, The Confession from 1970, which can be seen as a story of survival. Mr. Montand is in the film again, and this time, he's tortured and imprisoned for reasons neither we nor his character understand at first. As the film progresses, we learn that he used to be an active member of a Communist party, but now has settled into a more bourgeoisie lifestyle, much to the dismay of his more militant Communist kidnappers. While he's imprisoned, he is forced to confess to things that are not true for political reasons. He is stubborn, though, and will not confess. In the meantime, his wife (portrayed by the lovely Simon Signoret) wants nothing more than her husband freed. The Confession is not an easy film to watch as many scenes show a blindfolded Montand horribly mistreated and depraved of food and water. It's another well-made and thought-provoking film that puts you int he shoes of a prisoner and makes you think what you would do in his case. The ending will last long in your memory.

The Right Stuff (1983)

The new sci-fi / space movie Interstellar has been one of the most talked-about films of the year; but if one stops to consider, there would be no Interstellar without the events depicted in 1983's The Right Stuff,  the true story of the space race and the first American astronauts, IE the "Mercury Seven".

The film spans about 20 years, from the late 1940s to the mid 1960s as we get to see how test pilots such as Alan Shepard (Scott Glenn) and Gus Grissom (Fred Ward) handle their new lives as astronauts.

In his Movie Guide, Leonard Maltin writes, "it is a long movie, but never boring" with "exhilarating moments". My favorite scene is when John Glenn (Ed Harris) first orbits the globe. It's an awesome moment in a great film about real heroes.

I love how each character becomes memorable in his or her own way, even the minor characters such as the military recruiters played by Jeff Goldblum and Harry Shearer.  Veronica Cartwright  has a small role but is very memorable as one of the test pilots' wives; in one scene she suffers a breakdown when she realizes she wont be able to meet President Kennedy and his wife.   Also excellent are Dennis Quaid, Barbara Hershey, Pamela Reed, Kim Stanley, Kathy Baker, and Sam Shepard as record-setting test pilot Chuck Yeager (1923 - ). Intelligently directed by Philip Kaufman.

The film earned Roger Ebert's and Gene Siskel's pick as the  #1 Film of 1983.

Read Roger Ebert's essay on The Right Stuff in his "Great Movies" series:
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-right-stuff-1983

The Nasty Girl (1990)

Before the opening credits, the director (Michael Verhoeven) explains that the characters are fictional.

The story, however, is inspired by true events, as noted on Ted's blog Just a Cineast earlier this year.

The movie is narrated by the lead character, thirty-something Sonja (Lena Stolze), who speaks directly to the camera as though she's a reporter. Kind of similar to what Michael Caine's character does in Alfie.

The stories she tells are all flashbacks, which makes the film feel something like a docu-drama.

Sonja tells stories about her strict Catholic upbringing in Bavaria and about her mom and dad, both teachers. In one funny scene, Sonja (as narrator), is interrupted by a group of unruly teens and she quips how she was raised very differently. Then we see a scene of her as a young teenager, presumably  in the early 1970s. It's remarkable how she can convincingly play a young teen and an adult. The early flashback sequences are in black-and-white, and then switches to color when she comes of age.

Most of the film is a recollection of her high school years the history assignment that changed her life forever. Sort of like Nancy Drew, she goes on an investigation, interviewing numerous people about her town's Nazi past. In the process, she uncovers some old wounds that the townspeople would rather not deal with. In her determination to uncover the facts, she develops a reputation of being a "nasty" girl. Ultimately her school project turns into a lifelong passion.

Despite the serious subject matter, the film has a lighthearted tone, and lots of quirky comedic elements that some critics - including Roger Ebert -  found confusing. But the style was OK with me. The pacing, the direction, and the editing of this film are done well.

To Rome With Love (2012)

Set in Rome, the movie is made up of four vignettes, some better than others.

The one I liked best was the one with Roberto Benigni, who I don't think has been in any movie since Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella). He plays an ordinary man who suddenly is chased by the paparazzi for no apparent reason. It's comical, and brought to mind the paparazzi of La Dolce Vita.

Another story I liked features a couple in Rome on a short business trip. When the wife gets lost in the city, the husband finds himself spending the day with another woman - a prostitute, played by Penelope Cruz - introducing her to his family and business contacts with comical results.

There's another one with Alec Baldwin, who plays a mentor to a young architect Jesse Eisenberg. Alec is pretty flat in this; he seemed to be reading all of his lines for the first time, uninterested. George Clooney might have been a better choice than Alec in that role.

Jesse gets caught in a love triangle with his girlfriend Greta Gerwig and Greta's best friend on vacation Ellen Page.

I'm giving To Rome With Love a "C" - average. The vignettes are amusing but not too remarkable. Lovely scenery of Rome, though.

The Luck of the Irish (1948)

What It's About
While in Ireland, an American political journalist with Irish roots (Tyrone Power) meets a Leprechaun (Cecil Kellaway) and falls in love with a lovely maidservant (Anne Baxter).

Once he's back in the United States, he lands a job a for a newspaper mogul (Lee J. Cobb) and gets tangled up in a relationship with the boss' daughter (Jayne Meadows).

The Leprechaun reappears in Power's life, and serves as his conscience of sorts. Power also meets up with the maidservant again in the most unlikeliest of places - on a New York subway.

Once the film is 3/4 over, Power must decide whether or not to pursue Anne Baxter. Luckily, the Leprechaun is there to help him make the decision.

My Take (some spoilers ahead):
I enjoyed the first 20 minutes or so, when the film takes place in the Irish village and Power meets Kellaway. They have some interesting banter. "Let me go you bosthoon, or I'll parch your bones with fever", says the Leprechaun when Power catches him and demands to see his pot of gold. Kellaway calls him an "omadhaun"; but when he finds out Power isn't interested in harming him or stealing his gold, he is forever grateful, and even offers him a good luck gold piece.

When the setting moves to New York, a "cold and inhospitable city" as its called, the magic seems to disappear. Power encounters the Leprechaun again, who has left his green coat and hat behind and has assumed the name of "Horace". When Power first sees him, he doesn't even recognize him. Even when Horace becomes a servant in Power's apartment, I still didn't understand what Horace's purpose was - was he going to grant a wish to the Power character? Or serve as his conscience?

I was a bit disappointed in this film, and odd romantic-drama fantasy with a touch of comedy. In one odd scene, Horace is caught having stolen the milk of everyone in the building (Leprechauns really like milk apparently). There's a bit of a gloomy tone throughout the film; by the end of the film, Horace gets a bit philosophical with Power, and I was left scratching my head. Laura reviewed this movie on her blog a few years ago and enjoyed it more than I did.

Kellaway is amusing as the Leprechaun, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor of 1948. His cousin, actor Edmund Gwenn, won an Oscar the year before playing Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street (I was reminded of that film while watching this one). But this film is not nearly as good, in my opinion.

Somewhat recommended.

Available on DVD. Special features includes a remembrance by Jayne Meadows. The scenes in Ireland are tinted green (the movie in in black-and-white)

More thoughts on this film:

Classic Filmboy's Movie Paradise

I'm in agreement with with this review.

Best Actor/Best Supporting Actor Oscar blog

Louis reviews Cecil Kellway's performance.

Laura's Miscellaneous Musings

Laura points out the similarities to Brigadoon

Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960)

La Dolce Vita is another classic film celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

A few weeks ago, Oct 30, 2010 to be precise, Fellini's film had a special anniversary screening at a Rome film fest where American director Martin Scorsese appeared in-person to introduce the film. It's been restored once again with 10 additional minutes of footage, most likely trims to shorten the film. (Read the report from the Associated Press) This is indeed intriguing. I'm assuming a new DVD will be released in the future with this footage.

My first viewing of this film was in a film appreciation course taught by Constance Markey who co-authored the 1978 book, "Federico Fellni: A Guide to References and Resources". For further insight, I like Roger Ebert's 1997 review of this movie, published just a few days after the passing of Marcello Mastrioanni in December 1996. Ebert said how he saw this movie at several points in his life; each time he saw something different about the main character. ¹ His essay helped me understand this movie, and I will be referencing it a few times in this post.

A NEW KIND OF CINEMA

Phillip French, writing in The Observer a few years ago, wrote that Fellini ²

"introduced a new kind of cinema appropriate to a country that had emerged from fascism, the Second World War and post-war poverty to embrace (at least in Rome and the north) a glitzy affluence and a changed set of values that challenged Catholic morality."

Bosley Crowther's review in the New York Times said, ³

"Dignity is transmuted into the sensational. Old values, old disciplines are discarded for the modern, the synthetic, the quick by a society that is past sophistication and is sated with pleasure and itself."

RISE OF TABLOID MEDIA AND MODERNIZATION

Set in Rome in 1959, Marcello Mastroiani plays a tabloid reporter who mingles with high and low society, aristocrats and outcasts, movie stars and peasants. He is a man who observes, and through Marcello and his sidekick photographer, Paparazzo (inspiration for the word "paparazzi") we are introduced to a number of characters.

Fellini had been living in Rome for 10 years - all through the 1950s - and had been observer like Marcello. He saw Italy rise into a more prosperous society after WWII. He would have met characters like we meet in this film, having been around people involved with the media.

It was during this time that a scandal took place in Italy, when in 1954 Italian fashion model Willma Montesi was found dead on a beach and a number of high society people were put in the spotlight. Though there is no direct parallel to the so-called "Montesi Affiar" in La Dolce Vita, there is a fashion model, a high society scandal, and a death on the beach. I'm sure Fellini was somewhat inspired by these events, and I think Italian and European viewers may have drawn the connections as well.

Another Italian scandal was an inspiration for this film. In 1950, Italian writer Cesare Pavese committed suicide at the age of 40. Pavase was schoolmates with Tullio Pinelli, the co-screenwriter of La Dolce Vita. Pinelli wrote the character of "Steiner" with Pavase in mind.

CHANGES IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

This film came out right after the papacy of Pope Pius the 12th, who had been pope for almost 20 years and all through WW2. His death in 1958 marked an end of an era, not just in Rome but worldwide. This was also the era of what is called Vatican II, where new regulations and procedures involving how the masses are said were introduced. For example, in English speaking countries such as America, more Catholic services could now be heard in English, and not Latin, which was a departure from centuries of tradition.

A COMMENT ON SOCIETY

The film has been interpreted to be critical of various society groups - the upper class, the lower class, the media, and the Catholic Church. People didn't like how Rome's society was portrayed, but I think Fellini is commenting on it, and the fact that people are turning away from the church and embracing more of sin. The hedonism portrayed in the film was a bit disturbing for its time, and it still is depressing to see the lead fall from grace, or rather, fall from potential grace.

THE OPENING SCENE

The opening scene establishes the Rome setting and establishes that Marcello is some sort of wild documentarian. The people who are carrying the statue are doing their job moving the sculpture of Christ. The immature ones that Fellini focuses on are Marcello and his crew. What publication they are working for is still a mystery. Fellini only wants us to know that Marcello is a guy who gets around, and he does, especially with the ladies.

In the film, Marcello is "turning away" from Christ (as his helicopter crew wants to flirt with the women) and instead, they turn to womanizing/sin. Sort of sums up the film. At least that is how I took this to mean, and I think it's close to what Fellini is trying to express. I don't think he's mocking Christ or Catholicism, he's just making an observation of what people are doing in Rome, and sadly, the Catholic church is reduced to the sidelines for many people.

At the time, some devout Catholics saw this opening scene as a parody presentation of Christ's second coming and found this to be blasphemous, especially since Fellini intended this movie to be a dark comedy. ⁴ I can understand this sensitivity because I have studied Catholic theology and have spent many years with Catholic people, teachers, and leaders.

Iconic representations are important to many Catholics; it's been a tradition for centuries. While watching the opening sequence, I recalled the enormous 33-foot statue of the Virgin Mary that travelled through Chicago in 1999 and 2000. She was called "Our Lady of the Millennium", and many Catholic churches in Chicago had the statue on their premises for a few weeks at a time. You can see some color photos of this taken by Oscar Mendez See Photos here. (Courtesy of Flickr) I had always wondered how the statue got around, so this sequence sort of answered that for me. To my knowledge, when this film was released in 1960 the Pope did not issue any death threats to Fellini nor any one associated with the film to cause anyone to go into hiding. I mention that because I thought of what would happen If Fellini included anything in the film that could be interpreted to be critical about Islam or showed any representations of Mohammed in the film. The ramifications would be very different.

STYLE AND TECHNIQUE

Allegorical: with this film, Fellini once again succeeds in making us think of the deeper meaning underneath what we are seeing on the screen.

Editing: There are quick jump cuts from one scene to the next without a sense of elapsed time. Because of these startling cuts, the movie lost me at times. Some other directors use this technique and I'm not a big fan of it.

Breaking the fourth wall: One character speaks directly to the camera to us, the viewers.

Other Fellini Films: It might help to have seen La Strada and/or I Vitelloni before watching this film. There's a bit of Zampano (from La Strada) in the Marcello character, and a bit of Fausto (from I Vitelloni).

POP CULTURE REFERENCES

A number of topical inside references may fly over a casual viewer's head. In the famous interview scene with bombshell Sylvia (Anita Eckberg) one of the reporters asks her about what the thinks about "neo-realism", a genre some critics have associated Fellini's early pictures with.

Toward the end of the film, Marcello mentions the young American actor John Barrymore (Drew's father) who actually had something of a buddy career in the late 50s and early 60s (even in Italian films) before he ruined his own life. (I will discuss more about him at the end of the post)

SEVEN DAYS?

It's been written that this film takes place over a period of 7 successive days. Really? I didn't pick up on that when I first watched. To me, it seemed like the film could span a month or even a year.

THE TITLE

For the longest time I kept thinking of how the title fits with the story, and I concluded that it must be the name of the gossip magazine that he works for: "The Sweet Life" Magazine. Well, that's my take at least.

THE SEVEN DEADLY EPISODES?

There are a number of episodes throughout the three hour epic. Some critics have suggested that all seven deadly sins can be found, but I haven't studied the film enough to agree with it. Ebert felt the same way when we wrote about this in his 1997 column. ⁵

SATIRE AND SYLVIA

I love the episode with Sylvia, the Marilyn Monroe-esque movie star. Marcello and Paparrazzo are there to greet her as she steps off the plane. It is interesting Fellini satire. Here we have a blond, buxom Swedish movie star visiting Italy and she's the toast of the town. Italian men loved their blond Swedish women, and I think that's the message of this sequence. I love how Marcello becomes so smitten with Sylvia that he goes out of his way to find some milk for the stray kitten she picks up. That's a classic moment. I think an entire movie could be made from this one episode.

THE SAD LIFE

Other episodes reveal more of Marcello. We are introduced to Marcello's girlfriend, an emotional basketcase, who he later verbally abuses. Then Marcello has a one night stand with a high society woman (Anouk Aimee) who, like him, is a game player. A modern film that reminded me of this sequence is Up In the Air.

We also meet Marcello's father who comes to town to get away from Marcello's mother, and to drink his cares away. In this sequence we learn that Marcello is not close at all with his father and that his family life is a wreck, which says alot I think about why Marcello is the way he is.

THE ANGEL AND MOMENTS OF INSPIRATION

We meet another acquaintance, Steiner (Alain Cuny), who greets Marcello warmly, in a church. This is the only time we see Marcello in a church.

Steiner and invites Marcello to a housewarming gathering and introduces him to his children. Steiner represents someone that Marcello can look up to, and appears to have it all together. Steiner even encourages Marcello to find better work than writing for a gossip magazine, and encourages him to pursue writing a book he's been working on for years.

This encounter with Steiner leads to one of the most interesting scenes in the film. We see Marcello off relaxing at at beach resort working on his book after he's been inspired by Steiner. He meets a young blond girl and calls her an angel, who he sees again later in the film.

THE FALSE VISION

One episode doesn't seem to be as connected to the rest (or is it?) is the one where Marcello and his girlfriend travel to the remote village to cover a supposed miracle that has taken place, a vision of the Blessed Mother (Mary, Jesus' mother).

It's been reported that two children see the vision, and it's Marcello's job to try and figure out what's going on. When we do see the little kids, they are running to and fro and giggling as they proclaim "there she is!" in every possible direction.

It is all a silly set-up, yet a mass of people still believe it. It's like that with almost any "vision". I don't think this sequence is a direct criticism of religion, but rather a criticism of those people who will exploit people's sensibilities, a theme of Elmer Gantry which came out around the same time in America.

Ebert wrote of the vision as "an idealized woman" who represents "the hope that she can solve every problem".⁶

In this sequence, I think there is something to the part where Marcello's girlfriend prays. She wants to believe in something, and something spiritual happens inside of her that causes her to pray that Marcello will propose. Fellini makes this painfully obvious to the viewer that she wants to settle down and start a family. But Marcello is not in the same world. Later in the film, she pleads with him again, but he kicks her out of the car and calls her a whore. It's a really sad and depressing part of the film when this happens. We are left to assume that Marcello's girlfriend has given up on life - and prayer - too.

THE SEA CREATURE (DEMON?) AND MARCELLO'S DARK DESCEND

Marcello's world is shattered when one of his friends commits suicide. He has given up on writing and has become a seedy publicity agent who begins to hang around a group of pleasure seekers, leading to a life of lasciviousness.

One day a large sea creature washes up on the shore, and Marcello and his entourage go to check it out. If you didn't know from mythology or theology that a leviathan represent the demonic, this sequence might not make as much sense. It's also interesting that Fellini ends the movie on the beach, just as he did in La Strada. In a way, it's almost the same ending. The leviathan washing up on the shore represents the lowest point in Marcello's life. The angel he sees at the end represents his only link to hope, to salvation, a second chance, which he turns away from.

Ebert wrote that he felt the opening and closing scenes are symmetrical, and the two main objects are meant to be symbols: ⁷

"the statue "beautiful'' but false, the fish "ugly'' but real. During both scenes there are failures of communication. The helicopter circles as Marcello tries to get the phone numbers of three sunbathing beauties. At the end, across a beach, he sees the [angelic] girl...[yet] he does not remember, shrugs, and turns away."

FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT MARCELLO, JOHN DREW BARRYMORE, AND ZAMPANO

I am reminded once again of what happened to John Drew Barrymore, who is mentioned by Marcello near the end of the film, remarkably. Barrymore had all kinds of drug, alcohol, and domestic abuse problems before he became homeless and died without a pot to pee in. I see the Marcello character suffering a similar fate. At the end, he really looks like he could be dead in a few years. Of drugs. Of disease. Of suicide. I think Fellini is trying to tell us that there's nothing we can do for him. He ends up like a dog, just as his girlfriend predicted.

Ebert called this film "a cautionary tale of a man without a center". ⁸ I agree with that. It made me think again about La Strada and Zampano at the end. I wondered if he killed himself after the last scene. He could have, rather than living with the guilt and emotional torment.

La Dolce Vita is a prophetic film, in more ways than one. It's a unique work of art that could be be studied and analyzed for years to come.

The church where Marcello meets Steiner is the San Giovanni Bosco in the Tuscolano suburb.
It was built in 1957-58 in a monumental style of the Fascist period.

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References:

1. Roger Ebert. "The Great Movies: La Dolce Vita". Chicago Sun-Times. January 5, 1997

2. Philip French. “Italian Cinema’s Sweet Success”. The Observer. 17 Feb 2008.

3. Bosley Crowther. "La Dolce Vita: Fellini Film Lives Up To Foreign Hurrahs". The New York Times. April 20, 1961.

4. French.

5. Ebert

6. ibid.

7. ibid.

8. ibid.

Additional Reserarch:

Richard Wrigley. Cinematic Rome. Troubador Publishing. 2008.

Gregory D. Black. The Catholic Crusade Against the Movies, 1975. Cambridge University Press. 1998.

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Note: this post has been submitted to a special series of posts devoted to understanding Catholicism at Jackie's blog My Mother Wears Combat Boots. The series is called Catholicism 101 and if you are interested in Catholicism you can check out more here: http://2jackies.blogspot.com/2010/12/catholicism-101.html

While the City Sleeps (1953)

A good film noir directed by Fritz Lang about three newspaper reporters (Dana Andrews, Ida Lupino, and James Craig) who all work for a news media corporation lead by Vincent Price. The all star cast also features George Sanders, Thomas Michell and Howard Duff. Rhonda Fleming is also in this (wow) but she is not in the film enough - it's a very small role where she plays Vincent Price's wife who is having an affair with Craig.

On the loose in the city is a violent serial killer, dubbed the "lipstick killer"; all of his victims are female.

The killer, a deranged mamma's boy, is played by John Drew Barrymore (Drew Barrymore's father and son of the famed theater and silent film star).

Dana Andrews' reporter character hosts a nightly news TV program.

During one broadcast, in the most memorable scene in the film, he looks directly into the camera and speaks to the suspect on live TV, assuring his capture based on the all the evidence gathered. We then see a shot of the killer in his bedroom sweating nervously. He's then coddled by his overbearing momma.

The killer's next target: Andrews' ladyfriend (Sally Forrest - this was her last film)

John Drew Barrymore is quite convincing in this role, and very creepy; in real life I understand he was quite a disturbed man, and was a recluse for many years. I read a report where at one point he was homeless and broke, but his daughter helped him financially to pay medical bills before he died. On the bright side of things, he does have a bright shiny star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

PS This film is hard to find (it's not on DVD) but it can be seen on Turner Classic Movies from time to time.

Ace in the Hole (1951) - Starring Kirk Douglas

As Roger Ebert puts in in a recent review, this film is "a portrait of rotten journalism and the public's insatiable appetite for it". "Ace in the Hole" blew me away when I first saw it and I couldn't stop thinking and talking about it for days afterward. Fresh off his "stop-at-nothing-to-get-to-the-top" performance in "Champion", Kirk Douglas plays another cocky, competitive character, this time newspaper reporter Charles Tatum, who capitalizes on a mine disaster in a small New Mexico town (and churns out such wisecracks as "I can handle big news and little news. And if there's no news, I'll go out and bite a dog.") At the start of the film, his car breaks down in Albuquerque, and we learn that he had been fired from numerous New York paper jobs for boozing and womanizing. He lands a boring gig in a claustrophobic newspaper office and he hates it, as he longs for the noise of New York again. In on scene, Tatum asks a co-worker "What do you know about Yogi Berra?" She replies, "Yogi? That's sort of a religion isn't it?" Tatum: "You bet it is: Belief in the New York Yankees!" One day a story breaks out: In a nearby small town, a man named Leo Minoso is trapped in a mine after a cave-in; his legs are stuck and no one can get close to him without drilling through. This is Kirk's big break, he reasons, and proceeds to take possession of the story. After his story is printed on the front page, the newspaper's sales go through the roof and he's suddenly back in demand. His ruthless thirst for fame and wealth increases as the days pass. Meanwhile, an entire media circus forms around the cave. It's a fascinating story with many themes: loyalty, greed, competition. Lots of build-up to the return and rescue--- there's a chance Leo might not make it out of the cave alive....Will He or Won't He? It's an incredibly emotional film experience and Kirk Douglas as the heartless Tatum is brilliant. Plus great scenery of the desert and mountains. Wilder used thousands of extras and built a huge set - complete with a gigantic ferris wheel and carnival rides, and a pop music stage where a hit tribute song about the rescue of Leo is performed and sheet music is sold for 25 cents. Jan Sterling plays Leo's troubled wife. The commentary on the DVD is brilliant and so is the film. I agree with Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times who wrote, "Although the film is 56 years old, I found while watching it again that it still has all its power. It hasn't aged because Wilder and his co-writers, Walter Newman and Lesser Samuels, were so lean and mean [with their dialogue] . . . [Kirk Douglas'] focus and energy . . . is almost scary. There is nothing dated about [his] performance. It's as right-now as a sharpened knife....When the film was released, the press complained about its portrait of news practices and standards, even though the story was inspired by a real media circus when a man named Floyd Collins was trapped in a Kentucky cave. Today, it is hard to imagine some segments of the press not recognizing their hunger for sensation. "

Read more reviews of this picture from other bloggers at Out of the Past and Goodfellas Movie Blog.
Read another review from Confessions of a Film Philistine

The China Syndrome (1979)

While doing a series of reports on alternative energy sources, an opportunistic reporter (Jane Fonda) witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant. She's determined to publicize the incident but soon finds herself entangled in a sinister conspiracy to keep the full impact of the incident a secret. With Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, and Wilford Brimley. A pretty good thriller, which was released a few days before the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania.