Fellini

I love his films and rarely find one I don’t like of his, he got me into foreign cinema, what directors have inspired you?

Ingmar Bergman is #1

Fellini is always near the top of the list.

Patrice Chereau

Jacques Rivette

Fellini

Godard

I don’t get Fellini, I liked Amarcord and I Vitelloni but 8 and a half and Dole Vita I found tedious, yea sure they look fantastic but there’s nothing much beneath that and they’re so bloody long – that and his male chauvinism bug me quite a lot, like the prostitute in Amarcord, what’s that all about?

and to answer the question, Tarkovsky and Tarr make cinema the way it was supposed to be made, cinema doesn’t get much more inspirational than The Sacrifice and Satantango.

8 1/2 and LA DOLCE VITA are “so bloody long” but the 7.5 hour long SATANTANGO is cinema the way it is supposed to be made?

Fellini should have just opened a pizzeria and done away with film altogether

Dreyer # 1
Bergman
Wilder
Malick

There is no “foreign cinema,” only cinema. There was no director that “got me in to it,” I just never made any distinction.

“8 1/2 and LA DOLCE VITA are “so bloody long” but the 7.5 hour long SATANTANGO is cinema the way it is supposed to be made?”

are you serious? Loving a 7 hour film means I can’t find other films too long? I found Last Year in Marienbad too long and that’s just 90 minutes, I felt that after 40 it had said all it needed to same with those Fellini films – the point isn’t objective length it’s pacing, structure, whether one feels a film outstays it’s welcome. I wouldn’t cut a single second from Satantango.

Lighten up, Allan. You’re free to find whatever you want too long or too short. Opinions will differ, of course. I can’t imagine much that I’d remove from 8 1/2, but as much as I liked SATANTANGO there are big chunks of the film, like that interminable drunken dance sequence and those shots of people walking walking walking walking that could benefit from some serious trimming, I’d say.

For me Fellini is the best neorealistic director of all time.8 1/2 is a masterpiece and movie 9 is somekind of homage to this movie.I’m not a fan of neorelastic movies but his movies i can watch anytime

Fellini work is about as far detached from neo-realism as a director can be – I Vitelloni maybe, even that is pushing it though but 8 1/2 – you must be joking.

Those are two different films, Allan. They can be in two entirely different styles. They are in two entirely different styles. There are other films in each respective style.

“Otto e Mezzo” is rather lengthy, it feels a bit tedious in areas, and really, when you look back on it, what did you get out of it? Okay, even if you liked the film at the time, did it leave a big impression? “La Dolce Vita” is much the same, it feels like it goes too long and if it does make its mark, that mark soon fades after one leaves the cinema. “Amarcord” is puerile and pointless, whereas “Roma” is made bearable by Fellini’s trademark “enormous whores” (I must confess, he really does have a knack for filming the female posterior in the most enticing manner). Nobody can fault the music and cinemaphotography in his film, but I’m not really keen on the above listed films. “La Strada” is a much better piece of work.

Fellini’s work does get a bit repetitive.

I’ve seen six hour films that justify their length and two hour films that seemed tedious and padded. It’s not about the length itself. It’s about whether the length suits the material.

A lot of Fellini’s characters are chauvinist but I don’t see his work as a whole being so. Or at least, if I deemed Fellini’s work chauvinist I would so have to deem just about every movie made before 1960.

Andy Warhol’s ****(Four Stars) is 25 hours long.

A lot of Fellini’s characters are chauvinist but I don’t see his work as a whole being so.

I see a lot of his work as making fun of sexist men. The harem scene in 8 1/2 always seemed to me like he was poking fun at someone who would have such a silly, greedy fantasy. City of Women does something very similar, I think.

^^agree Savannah. it’s not cut and dry at all. I actually believe that City Of Women is very underrated for that very reason.

Fellini’s chauvinist characters are always autobiographical. He makes fun of himself endlessly, as with all of Woody Allen’s neurotic characters.

I always thought anyone who would marry someone as unconventional as Giulietta Masina couldn’t be that much of a chauvinist.

Regarding the length of his films, I have yet to see a Fellini film that wasn’t in need of editing. Then again, I also haven’t seen a Fellini movie that didn’t have a perfect ending. If nothing else, the man’s career is proof of how much a perfect ending can make up for.

All of his later films are too short. I wish they were 10 hours longer. I mean, honestly, how long is Anouk Aimee in 8½? Like 20 minutes of screen time? She’s the star of the film! She should have at least 5 hours dedicated to her. I don’t understand how someone could make a film with her in it any shorter than 5 hours. It is beyond my comprehension. My only complaint would be that each reel is only long enough to watch her drink tea for, what, 12 minutes?

If nothing else, the man’s career is proof that editors are the devil and that cutting is akin to killing a child.

Savannah opined:

“I always thought anyone who would marry someone as unconventional as Giulietta Masina couldn’t be that much of a chauvinist.”

Spoken like a woman who has absolutely no idea how men think.

Either that, or someone who needs to look up the definition of chauvinism.

1. Militant devotion to and glorification of one’s country; fanatical patriotism.
2. Prejudiced belief in the superiority of one’s own gender, group, or kind.

I don’t think excessive admiration of one’s own gender would prevent a man from marrying an “unconventional” woman.

You seem to be confusing “male chauvinist” with “fellow who loves huge hooters and bimbo features in a woman”. The two can but do not necessarily go together. Fellini could have married the Wicked Witch of the West but still might have had a bit on the side in the form of Anita Ekberg or Brigitte Bardot.

Finally, take a look at the picture you posted, Savannah. Giulietta is absolutely gorgeous, whereas Fellini was not hideous, but at the same time, he wasn’t this guy…

So what I’m saying is Federico wasn’t exactly taking a “step down” in marrying Giulietta.

Somehow, Mark, your implication that someone could ‘take a step down’ for marrying Giulietta based on her looks makes you far more of a chauvinist than Fellini could ever make himself out to be.

Fellini is a great scriptwriter, I love Tarkovsky’s works and Bergman’s, never heard of Satantango and got me willing to watch it!

Well NOBODY is that guy, Mark.

Fellini’s love for Giuliettais easily explained by seeing all the films he made with her — especially “Nights of Cabiria”

I was only half-serious with the Guiletta remark— mostly I just think the two of them were really adorable together. I think the evidence against his chauvinism is more in the fact that City of Women basically mocks a misogynist protagonist for 139 minutes. And there’s Juliet of the Spirits, which to me is a bit like a feminine 8 1/2 and definitely not the output of a sexist man.

I think your jump to the conclusion of me being a silly woman who “has absolutely no idea how men think” says a lot about you, too.