Movie Review: 8 1/2 (1963)

Federico Fellini is a name all movie buffs are familiar with and I decided to not just be familiar with the name, but to also be familiar with his works.  I was fortunate enough to receive "8 1/2" inside of the Boxwalla Film subscription box(you can read my reviews subscription boxes at HelloSubscription.com).

"8 1/2" follows the life of a filmmaker by the name of Guido Anselmi(Marcello Mastroianni).  Guido has an interesting life.  He is about to make a large budget movie but nobody seems to know when this film will start shooting.  Guido finds himself answerring to people at all times.  There's an amazing scene early on where the camera never stops and Guido walk through a large room answering questions and accepting comments from producers, actors and people generally interested in what he is working on.

Guido also has a thing for the ladies.  He has a hard time coping with why they can't keep focused on him, even though he himself is married.  This comes into play throughout the film as the story delves into the psyche of this troubled filmmaker and leads to a fantasy of having his own harem.



There are many scenes where Guido thinks back to his childhood and you can see how the events shaped him into the socially confused man he has become.  There are also dream sequences where Guido is off into another realm, talking to his parents and others.  All of it is done beautifully and with an amazingly well done purpose.


This film is from 1963 and is in black and white.  The language is Italian and there are subtitles.  I'm glad there wasn't any dubbing as I like the emotion that comes from the actual actors.  Fellini gets a lot of out of his actors, especially from the husband and wife tandem of Guido and Luisa(Anouk Aimee).

There is a lot going on within this film and I don't want to give too much away.  This is a film that you can discuss for weeks.  If you haven't explored this classic film I highly recommend it.  If you have, but it's been a while, I would check it out again.

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