"8 1/2"

Film Review # 110277

Film > Analysis, Criticism, Etc.
Film > Artist

"8 1/2"

A review of the mastery of the movie "8 1/2" directed by Federico Fellini.

1,196 words () | 5 sources | APA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses Federico Fellini's movie "8 1/2" as being sometimes slow, a product of great acting, genius directing, and good timing. The paper comments that from the opening dream sequence to the end, no one paints surrealistic black and white imagery as effectively as Fellini. The paper notes that this film stands as his supreme masterpiece among many other legendary Fellini films, but no one has matched its original brilliance. Shot in black and white, the paper finds "8 1/2' an exhilarating, confusing, irritating, and inspired journey into a man's consciousness.

From the Paper:

"Neorealistic films established Fellini in the movie world, but the neoralistic tendency to stress the external economic and social situation of characters never really "took" with Fellini. His concern was with the inner world of fantasies, hopes, and fears of his characters. What he did take from the neorealist tradition was the convivtion that movies could be loose and episodic without forfeiting the interest of the audience. They did not have to bound tightly to a central plot. All of Fellini's films are episodic in the sense that they contain sequences of digressions which are stories in themselves and could be viewed independently. In 8 1/2, sequences such as the memory of La Saraghina, the visit to the Cardinal in the bath, or the harem fantasy could stand on their own fairly successfully."

Sample of Sources Used:

Bondanella, Peter. The Cinema of Federico Fellini. Princeton University Press. 1992
Burke, Frank. "Fellini: Changing the Subject" Film Quarterly.Vol. 43, No. 1 (Fall, 1989), pp. 36-48
Ebert, Roger. "Fellini's 8 1/2" Chicago Sun Times May 7, 1993
Internet movie database, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056801, "8 1/2"
Stubbs, John C. "8 1/2" Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 9, No. 2, Special Issue: Film IV: Eight Study Guides (Apr., 1975), pp. 96-108