8 1/2 review

Federico Fellini's 1963 film, 8 1/2, won the Best Foreign Film award at the 1964 Oscars. It's number 10 on Sight & Sound's Top 250 films. It has a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score. It's on Roger Ebert's Great Movies list. Martin Scorsese lists it as one of his favorite movies, and his favorite Italian film of all time. As does Woody Allen. 8 1/2 is obviously a highly acclaimed film. Watching a highly acclaimed movie like this can be quite hard. You have all this expectation and buzz built up around it, often it can be hard for the film too live up to it. I remember watching Citizen Kane and being a little disappointed by it. You also don't want your opinion to be swayed. When you're told a film is the greatest of all time, it's awful difficult to enjoy the movie with a clear mind. Regardless of all the accolades and acclaim 8 1/2 received, it's a really fantastic movie. I watched it on Saturday. It's Monday now and I've already watched it twice. It is that good. The film is about film, essentially. More so, it's about the lack of film. Director Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) is trying to make a movie, but nothing seems to be going his way. He's over budget. His wife is mad. His mistress is causing trouble. The producer of his movie keeps pressuring him to start production, but he has serious creative block and cannot do so. He's supposed to be making this movie, but he has nothing to make. He's exhausted and has really no clear idea on what to do. His only real reprieve is in his dreams and fantasies. There he has control over everything. In one very famous dream sequence, Guido has all the women in his life all in one harem. He's very happy and seems to have them all under control, but then they rebel and he tries to tame them to no avail. Even in his most wonderful fantasies Guido is losing control. Claudia Cardinale (of Once Upon a Time in the West fame) plays his muse and dream girl, also named Claudia. She comes to him in dreams to comfort him, but in real life she brings no such comfort. I've only very recently become interested in Federico Fellini. The only other film of his I've seen is La Dolce Vita, which was very good in its own right. Even after watching only two of his movies, I'm starting to see his style. 8 1/2 I think is the best representation of it so far. The two films have very similar themes and story: a man (coincidentally played by Marcello Mastroianni both times) who is going through a creative crisis, falling victim to infidelity and writers block. What's most obvious to recognize is Fellini's wonderful and camera work. Even those who aren't as infatuated with his movies as I seem to be can at least appreciate his awesome direction. He dances his camera around his characters, adding to the story and making his already great films just that much better. But he isn't only a technical director. The story here is great, as is the way he tells it. The only other filmmaker deal with creative troubles as accurately and wonderfully is Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze with Adaptation. With 8 1/2, Fellini really captures the spirit of frustration enormously well. And he does it in such an entertaining manner. Anyone who has ever embarked in making a movie, or really anything creative at all, can sympathize with Guido's hopeless plight. We often laugh at his troubles, but only because we really understand them ourselves. Many have called 8 1/2 surrealist. I'm not sure if I would completely group it under that category, but I'd definitely say it has some surreal elements to it. The movie opens with Guido in a traffic jam. In his car, he is trapped and his vehicle is slowly filling with a gas. Soon, he frees himself and begins to fly. He is a kite, his leg is bound to a string. He falls to the beach. He wakes up. Surreal and strange, yes, but there are only a few of these fantasies peppered throughout the film. In my opinion, it's a very grounded and realistic movie. Dealing with a filmmakers myriad troubles and issues, occasionally resorting to strange dream sequences. Don't get me wrong though, I absolutely loved the surreal moments in the film. Fellini handles dreams better than almost any director I've seen. The fantasy moments don't feel out of place or serve as clunky placeholders, they add a lot and just make the film all the more rich and beautiful. 8 1/2 has a few moments that drag on, but they are only a few. The rest of the movie is 100% awesome. It's a must see, not only for filmmakers and writers, but for everyone. Every single person can, in some sense, relate to Guido. Plus, it's just pure and wonderful movie making that everyone should see at least once in their life. Me? I may have to watch it a few more times. Happy Viewing guys. Don't forget to like me on Facebook at Facebook.com/WhitsMovies and follow me on Twitter @WhitsMovies if you haven't already.

#tbt The American review

Happy Throwback Thursday!

I remember back when The American came out, it was marketed as a gripping action thriller. The American, while it is about assassins and some very thriller-esque elements, is not at all a pulse pounding action flick that it was marketed as in the trailers. It's about an assassin and gun craftsman (George Clooney) who is on vacation in Italy, when he is given a new assignment. He goes only by the name of Jack. It suits him well. Jack is a solitary man with features that seem to be made of stone. He is quiet and emanates an aura of cold intensity, like that of a samurai. He has a dangerous past, and the way things seem to be going, his future will be just as dangerous. Jack doesn't want the danger anymore. He falls in love with a beautiful young prostitute named Clara and wants to spend his life with her. His boss has other plans. I've heard many people complain about the very slow pacing of The American. I have no problem with it. For if the movie had been a fast paced actioner of the same tier as say, The Bourne movies, it would've been a completely different film with much less meaning. It wouldn't really have fit. The movie has the same pace like that of a slow burning time bomb. The film's pace is almost reflective of the main character. Slow yet intense, and seemingly cut-and-dry yet more complex after a second glance. I also think the movie's title is very fitting. Clooney's character is just that American to everyone. To many in the film, he's known simply as The American. There's nothing special about him, he's just doing his job. But on second glance, he's more than that. The character of Jack reminded me very much of Ryan Gosling's character in Drive. The same stoic features and intense persona, both hopelessly in love, yet bound for a short and violent life. The American is superior to Drive though, because it manages to bring you deeper into this character. The American is different than any assassin or spy film I've ever seen. It focuses much more on the character's inner struggles than on bad guys with guns. It relies more on it's beautiful use of Italian scenery than fast car chases. Not that there's anything wrong with a good car chase every once in a while.At one point, Clooney is sitting in a Italian cafe. Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in The West is playing on the television in the cafe. I think you could make a comparison to Charles' Bronson's harmonica playing gunslinger. A quiet and subdued anti-hero who does what needs to be done, and no more. Some will not like The American for it's slow pace and sometimes unexplained plot. Although the climax is worth it and when you see how it all comes together, it's quite satisfying. The American is not a perfect film by any means. I'm not even sure if I'd want to watch it again. But I am glad I watched it once, and I urge you to do the same. Happy Viewing and Happy Thanksgiving guys. 

You can follow me on Twitter @WhitsMovies and like me on Facebook at Facebook.com/WhitsMovies.