8 1/2
Added 2023-04-20 01:31:27 +0000 UTCI've been chipping away at this one for an eventual review. Watched it with some friends the other night. Both of them loved it. I really love Fellini's universe personally, and this one in particular is quite full of whimsy, and in other ways it almost feels a little overstated at times for me. Such sharp wit and beauty, yet it doesn't say as much to me as I wish it did. I almost wish it strayed deeper into the abstract as it went, rather than abiding to the fidelity formula we often retread, in a more conventional manner.
Not to say it shouldn't explore that concept. I just wish it was a little more bold and all encompassing. The ending, as the film within the film blends with the film itself, in certain ways is a perfect ending, and a very satisfying one. And yet at the same time, a lot of it metaphorically here felt overstated. And yet...a lot of this makes sense when you look at the protagonist, whose inner world is the playground here, and a rather narcissistic and pretentious one.
But that's not to say I dont love the film. I do. I think it's a real masterwork, and I will see it again to do it the proper justice for a review. What do you guys think of it?
Comments
I Vitelloni is a great one to start out with
Henri J. Mertens
2023-08-18 13:35:19 +0000 UTCHaha, an interesting way of putting it. In some ways I agree with you. There's a ton I love and admire about it. But I don't really connect with it. And I think the premise makes it hard for that to be a possibility in the long run
Deepfocuslens
2023-08-18 08:27:44 +0000 UTCWatching 8 1/2 kind of feels like having a manic conversation with my drunk uncle at a family reunion, with him ranting about his weird dreams that I really have no interest in
Henri J. Mertens
2023-08-17 12:15:38 +0000 UTCYes, I felt similarly, but I also need to see it again since it's been a while. Perhaps I'll feel differently. But for me it was his earlier work that resonated more, then the more psychedelic stuff peaked my interest in a different way. I always wished for more of a balance there, ultimately. I also think Nino Rota is a huge reason Fellini's films work as well as they do.
Deepfocuslens
2023-04-21 18:45:12 +0000 UTCI highly recommend some of his earlier work, which is more simple and emotionally resonant. I often can't decide what I prefer from him.
Deepfocuslens
2023-04-21 18:43:31 +0000 UTCThat's a great point. I want to review them both eventually. In particular L'Avventura. That film has always haunted me.
Deepfocuslens
2023-04-21 18:42:49 +0000 UTCI’ve never seen Synecdoche, New York…but I have seen Adaptation, another Charlie Kaufman treatise on writer’s block and the agony of the creative process. And I have to say that I find that movie to be wiser, more enjoyable, and maybe even more imaginative than what I remember of 8 1/2. Maybe Kaufman owes a debt to what Fellini did first in showing the creative struggles of an artist in a freewheeling, stream-of-consciousness style (though frankly, Philip Roth might have been a bigger influence), but Kaufman had more to say not just about how hard it is to put words to paper, but also the pressures of having to follow up a massive success (like, say, Being John Malkovich) where everyone thinks you’re great and you feel like a fraud. Yes, 8 1/2 was about the same thing with the success of La Dolce Vita, but Kaufman, with his sweaty yet endearing insecurity, connects a hell of a lot better than Fellini’s Guido, which may also be because, as you suggested regarding Fellini’s flaws in characterization, Kaufman is a more fully developed creation than what Fellini came up with. Adaptation, for me, is proof that you can make a meta film that bounces around the neurotic interior of its creator and have it be engaging and entertaining without ever dwelling on its self-indulgence (it is, after all, always going to be an act of self-indulgence to make a film about an artist’s struggle to come up with an idea for a film). But I don’t want to be too harsh and critical of 8 1/2. You make me want to see it again, and it is a film that I need to revisit. It just might be a better film than I remember it being. I agree with you that Fellini has a tight grip on all that he wants to express. Of that I have no doubt. I believe him to be a master filmmaker in total command of his craft. But I also agree that what he expresses isn’t as deep as he thinks it is. And that may be why there are several people in this thread who have trouble sitting through not necessarily just 8 1/2, but other Fellini films. You can grasp fairly quickly what he’s going for, what ideas he wants to convey, but you still have the rest of the movie to sit through. And all that carnivalesque pageantry to endure, which isn’t for everyone.
Bennett Oliver
2023-04-21 01:48:59 +0000 UTCLa Dolce Vita is a masterpiece. It's interesting to compare Fellini's portrayal of the Italian upper class to Antonioni's in L'Avventura, out that same year. Like comparing chalk to cheese, even though they're both highlighting many of the upper class's same failings.
Matt C
2023-04-20 18:13:03 +0000 UTCI’ve only seen it once, about five years ago. but I loved it. Really blew my mind. The lion tamer scene with the women just nails his psychology so completely and is so inventive, especially at the time. Just a pleasure to watch and absorb. I really want to do the full Fellini deep dive. Only other one I’ve seen is La Dolce Vita, and that was in college and I barely remember it (over 20 years ago).
Jim Barnes
2023-04-20 16:52:33 +0000 UTCDo you have similar issues with other Fellini films? I personally found that I feel a similar distance to La Dolce Vita due to how it may subtly gesture to certain directions and outer edges of great concepts but never seems to fully connect them (at least, to me). I’m able enough to enjoy the ride and take whatever I can glean from his films, but they rarely affect me in the way that many others seem to get from his works.
Christian Reiswig
2023-04-20 16:18:39 +0000 UTCI get that. It's one you kinda gotta be interested in I think, in order to engage in.
Deepfocuslens
2023-04-20 03:32:45 +0000 UTCOn one level, I agree with you. On another, I find he really excels as he pushes more into the stratosphere. Elements of this film are just divine and delightful for me. But it depends on the film also. I do think once he gets into the mid 60s is where I feel he really suffers from what you're talking about. Though, for me it's not the issue of the artist not making up his mind that I struggle with. I find these writer's block movies effective when done well. Synecdoche, New York, as example, is a very effective film for me. It's more the characters limitations as a person that become the issue as the film tries to expand its reach. And by extension, the themes get more and more meta as the creative endeavor grows more simple, to the point where it's hard to top it off. Hard to make a meaningful point there that doesnt feel simplistic or redundant in some form. But if you go too deeply into the abstractions, the piece gets overwhelmed. It's very ambitious, and I think for the most part Fellini has a tight grip on all he wants to express. That said...I feel what he wants to express isn't as deep as he thinks.
Deepfocuslens
2023-04-20 03:31:32 +0000 UTCI love Fellini but I couldn't get into this one for the reasons Bennett mentioned. I fall asleep about 45 minutes in every time I give it a chance.
Wolfman Brandon
2023-04-20 03:27:13 +0000 UTCIt’s been a long time since I’ve seen 8 1/2 in particular, so I can’t comment on it specifically, but…I’m not too much of a fan of the later work of Fellini, when he turned away from his neorealist roots and embraced that phantasmagorical, carnivalesque aesthetic. Make no mistake, he’s a master filmmaker, a creator of dazzling, indelible visions, and he’s certainly watchable in that regard. You wouldn’t mistake a frame of Fellini for anyone else’s film. But things ring a little too hollow for me because there’s not much going on below the surface. People in those later films became caricatures, grotesqueries, like he drew them and then filmed it. They all became part of that whole “life is a circus” outlook, which he ran into the ground. That wasn’t always the case. I still remember the title prostitute in Nights of Cabiria and how much of an impression she left on me, more so than, say, any one of the townspeople in Amarcord. It was clear that Fellini had affection for her, and he made us feel for her as well. As a full-blooded person, not as a cartoonish curiosity. As for 8 1/2, I would need to revisit it again. I remember being at once enthralled by the filmmaking and put off by its self-indulgence. Maybe I’ll like it more now than I did then, but I can’t help but remember a piece of criticism that was said about the film. I can’t remember who said it or exactly how it went, but basically it was: “Two and a half hours is a long time to be watching an artist make up his mind.”
Bennett Oliver
2023-04-20 02:40:05 +0000 UTCI've tried watching it twice and both times I fell asleep pretty quickly. Just haven't found a good time to enjoy it yet.
Tyler Shobe
2023-04-20 01:33:59 +0000 UTC
