Magic of Fellini

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  August 3, 2009

  her69eyes

  Federico Fellini is one of the most celebrated names in film history. Having completed a number of critically acclaimed masterpieces - "8 1/2", "Nights of Cabiria", "La Dolce Vita", "La Strada" - his name has become synonymous with innovation, tremendous technique, and extraordin...( read more)ary vision. Director Carmen Piccini's documentary on Fellini entitled "The Magic of Fellini" may be useful to anyone completely new to the director, but to an audience who has seen a few of his films and read some articles on his craftsmanship, none of the material will come off as quite a surprise.
  
  The documentary serves as a very brief introduction to the director told in under an hour in length. By utilizing many clips from Fellini films, the amount of completely new content is substantially less than the final 56 minute running time. Although interviewing subjects like Anita Ekberg, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and Claudia Cardinale, the film only incorporates bits and pieces of what they had to say.
  
  The best interviewee in the film is Donald Sutherland, who played Casanova in "Fellini's Casanova". The footage appears to be from some sort of Q&A session, and Donald shares some wonderfully intimate stories about how the director worked behind the scenes. He recalls a day when Fellini drove an American actress to tears because of his lack of patience, and then later on the girl said it was a wonderful experience.
  
  Much of the film covers what is widely documented. For instance, the fact that Fellini's films were largely shot silently and then dubbed over in post-production. In fact, many of the actors didn't even speak coherent dialogue - Fellini didn't necessarily care that the voices match the mouth's movement (which is highly apparent in quite a few of his films). While it's interesting to see how people articulate their experiences, I didn't leave the documentary thinking that i've learned anything new about the director.
  
  It could also be argued that Fellini's own library serves as his biography - films like "Amarcord", for instance, which paint a portrait of his childhood. Because his own films incorporate so many memories, a film as basic as "The Magic of Fellini" doesn't provide any insight into the life of the great Italian director. I was looking for a much more thorough and educational piece, but was met with something that serves as the most basic of introductions.
  
  If you've never seen a film by Fellini, this would be worth seeing. But that being said, if you've never seen a film by Fellini... well, then, you should be watching a film by Fellini.

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• Anita Ekberg
• Anthony Quinn
• Claudia Cardinale
• Donald Sutherland
• Ettore Scola
• Giuseppe Tornatore
• Lina Wertmüller
• Martin Scorsese
• Paul Mazursky

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