On Federico Fellini's 8 1/2

        

          To me and my way of experiencing movies on the big screen, Fellini's film, '8 1/2' is a true masterpiece of cinema and great piece of Art. It gets better every time I see it. Where to begin? Well, here's what I like about it: The film has a fluid and poetic movement that never subsides even when we go into melancholy flashback sequences or when we slow into serious conversations between Guido and his wife about Guido's infidelities and constant lying. The camera moves and pans and dips and rises. The characters are always moving too; whether it be shuffling in line to take the 'cure' or dancing or wondering around the grounds of the health spa or goofing around or the last scene where all the characters gather in a circle and hold hands and rotate in a communal celebration of life and love and art.

         And then we have the score by Nino Rota which when combined with certain imagery moves me to the verge of tears especially when Guido flashes back to when he was a child and he's placed in the wine cauldrons with the other kids who are jumping up and down and splashing in the grape liquids and how he's carefully and tenderly tucked in bed by maternal women. There are so many things in this movie that strike a personal nerve with me I won't go into all of them. ( I was basically raised by wonderful and caring women as well.) That theme by Nino Rota, ah how beautifully melancholy and full of the pangs of time having gone by. When I recently saw the film at the Cinematheque in Cleveland, it was during this scene I had to wipe my eyes to keep my friend from noticing. I love how Fellini blends reality with memory and imagination and does so in such a seamless way.

         Marcello Mastroianni as Guido is pitch perfect as Fellini's alter ego.Whatsmore, Guido's own shortcomings and flaws when it comes to relationships with woman can't help but to remind me of my own.  It's not fun to admit how well I feel like I can relate to Guido throughout the movie and there is an element of confession that I find interesting even if it can't right all his wrongs.

        And I would be leaving out a huge element of appeal if I failed to mention the beautiful black and white cinematography by Gianni di Venanzo. Heart of Hearts, I LOVE this film. It bursts with the joy of life, the pain of regret and what sometimes seems like the unbridgeable gap between men and women.