Rosselini shot 'Roma Città Aperta' in the open streets post-war. His film-making resources were limited, as is apparent in the film, since he uses natural lighting, non-professional actors and a delicate sound system) but it only gives the film a stark and more authentic look making the atmosphere more terrifying and a the experience more real. Most of the 'props' and 'sets' and even many of the Nazi soldiers were real. Unlike many historical films, this one does right by the historical facts (e...
Just when you thought that the cinema form had lost its capacity to carry an important social message without the use of artsy-fartsy rethoric, there comes "Paisà"; a masterpiece for the ages. Rosselini is a name that must be spoken of in all schools and universities of the world. His ability (combined to a perfect script) to convey emotional meaning in film with the use of non-professional actors, natural locations, and still be able to make it VIBRANT and EXCITING... it´s uncanny. The power of...
故事发生在13世纪，一个传教士来到了一个野蛮未开化的地方，他将基督的福音和训诫传递给当地的人们，从而改变了他们的思想和生活，最后弗朗西斯和修道士继续上路，传播福音。影片根据意大利阿西斯镇上一个圣芳济修道院的壁画改编，它以11个片断表现了弗朗西斯传道的故事，这部在当时商业上惨败的电影在半个世纪后却成为经典，他在银幕上第一次提出了非暴力的精神，那个去感化野蛮人的教士是令人感动的。《圣弗朗西斯的花束The Flowers of St. Francis》是值得一看的，当野蛮人都可以教化的时候，我们的时代有必要回到狼群吗？可是，我们的...
In approaching any film of Fellini's, it is important not to clump his style in the same field of other European 'arthouse' filmmakers such as Bergman, Godard, Antonioni or even Tarkovsky.
From what I understand after viewing a few of his films [namely 'La Strada', 'La Dolce Vita', 'Nights of Cabiria' and now 'Variety Lights'] Fellini draws deceptively simple metaphors and contexts from banal characters often at times, for instance Quinn as the strongman in "La Strada" who exploits the resource...
Having seen most of Federico Fellini's movies, any viewer who not only watches the films but experiences the cinema may draw the conclusion that the director changed his style over the years. In other words, he turned to be more "skeptical" more "knowledgeable" and more "dreamlike." To realize that, we have to consider his earliest films - his honeymoon period - for clearer understanding of the change. The movie that resembles Fellini's freshness most is LO SCEICCO BIANCO. Here, it is hardly the...
Enjoyed this Foreign film produced by Federico Fellini film depicting a group of men who really do not like to work and manage to live off their families and love to drink, party and love women. There is a nice young couple who love each other, however, this woman becomes pregnant and creates a difficulty between the couple and even though he loves his wife he is always hitting on other women for romance. This story goes into great detail about each of these vagabond men who never seem to advanc...
Italy. Zampano is the only member of a circus act traveling across the country and performing for street charity. One day he buys a new member for his act, Gelsomina, a young and slightly retarded innocent woman. Traveling around the country and performing acts - Zampano is breaking the chains from his chest while Gelsomina is entertaining the audience dressed as a clown - the two of them come closer...
"The Road", winner of an Oscar for best foreign language film, is a real full blood masterpi...
What a sad film. Broderick Crawford heads a small band of con men but is getting too old and pathetic for the game. He is brilliant in the role and we barely sympathise with him once as he gradually fades away. The men are wretched to their women. There is a woman in the front car seat who gets thrust into the windscreen to accommodate a hoodlum getting or out behind her and another forced to strip by a bunch of guys at a party. The only moments where any sort of humanity show through is when Cr...
Gorgeous early Fellini, often considered the mid-point in his career, between the more obviously reflective, supposedly realistic early work, and the bleak extravaganzas that followed. But Fellini was never a neo-realist in the dull way Rossellini was: his use of landscape was always heavily symbolic or subjective. Here Cabiria lives in the middle of a bleak wasteland, which perhaps serves to figure the emptiness of her life, the sterility of life for women in macho Italy, or a comment on post-f...
It left me in silence for at least half of an hour after watching it. It's simply incredible. No other movie has kept so glued on the screen (consider that this one is 3 hours long!). It seems like you're watching the matter of your dreams, especially in the world wide famous scene at the Fontana di Trevi and in the amazing final scene (again, the best final ever). I don't know what else to say, for there's no word to describe this astonishing vision. I don't understand the people who don't like...
Deeply personal and engaging, Fellini's story has an authenticity
to it that is very unique. As we marvel at the method actors and old
American films of the 50's & 60's, it is in the foreign films during
this era where the most impressive and innovative work was
being created (8 1/2 tops that list). I find films with stage-like acting, blatant morality, and little bits of
exciting action (like the American cinema of the 50's and 60's) to
be uncompelling. Personal stories are compelling. Pe...
Juliet of the Spirits frolics through light and dark moments, gallops head-on through memories and present-day visions that may be dreams or just reality gone as askew as possible. And all the while, as many a critic has noted, Gianni Di Venazo's cinematography is a spot-on enchanter. It's got so much to look at, it almost threatens to trump the symbolism and other eye-catching things- chiefly Giulietta Masina herself- throughout the production. And it's got tinges of other Fellini films in its ...
While the most spectacular is Fellini's incredible and banal finale to this tryptich, all three of these short films are outstanding in their own way, and not a single one of them would be worth much at all without the others. In the first, directed by Vadim, one sees a spoiled brat princess (who knew that Jane Fonda was so beautiful??) who occupies her time bullying her pretty court around, until her cousin (who she scorns as lowborn until he frees her from a trap he has set) is the first to re...
Satyricon is a screen adaptation of Petronius's novella about life in the time of Nero. We are introduced into a bizarre and highly bisexual world of parvenus, war mongers, hedonists, pimps and catamites. Fellini offers a narrative of 25 distinct episodes, only loosely connected by the presence of the young and adventurous student Encolpio, who desperately longs for love and happiness, but who is constantly startled by the occurrence of events. The storyline is a bit too erratic for my taste but...
This little film tends to stand quietly in the shadows of the great director's other works. It cannot compare to 8 1/2, or La Dolce Vita, but it carries a remarkable quality to it that isn't quite like his other films.
Fellini's circus theme is used here to a remarkable effect. There is a sadness that creeps in and around the film, like a cat watching a canary. It is unlike his other works, not as daring or bold, but worth some consideration
