For those, like me, who have come to love the fake sets and outlandish cartoon characters of a film like wes anderson’s _{life aquatic with steve zissou} or any other contemporary director who plays with reality vs. artifice, take a look at Fellini’s late-career gem that gets very little recognition. The opening five minute sequence filmed in black and white, apparently with silent cameras, is a beautiful, stunning piece of work by itself. Then the color saturates back into the film stock and the world of sound is introduced, conveniently the opera singers who inhabit the film take advantage of that. This is almost immediately followed by another incredible sequence…I won’t say anything…just watch closely as the camera records the goings on of the ocean-liner kitchen and then transitions into the dining room. It has to do with music, movement, timing, and choreography. Fellini was one of the only directors~ Kubrick, Welles, maybe Bergman~ that operated on such a high level.