Die wunderbare Reise der Lucy - Auf der Suche nach Fellini

I found this movie on the Kanopy site through my public library's subscription, viewed via Roku streaming.

This movie has somewhat mixed reviews and after watching it I have somewhat mixed feelings about it. Inspired by writer Nancy Cartwright's own adventures when she was younger, in this fictionalized story young Lucy is 20 in 1993, in Cleveland inadvertently stumbles into a Fellini film festival and is instantly mesmerized with the images those films convey.

So she sets out to go to Italy and look up Fellini. I suppose that would be like a French girl seeing "Taxi Driver" then traveling to New York to look up Scorsese. The movie is about her adventures and misadventures. Is it just a sort of "coming of age" story?

While I enjoyed it on a certain level, and the actress playing Lucy is very good, the last scenes are a bit confusing and when it was over I wasn't quite sure what the intent of the story was.

"In Search of Fellini" is not a film without flaws but due to a well-crafted sense of wonder, an obvious reverence of Fellini's work, and especially a terrific lead performance, it is able to overcome them and in the end deliver a satisfying drama.

Young Lucy has been sheltered from the world by her loving, though over-protective, mom and after her 1st job interview goes awry, she stumbles upon a Fellini film festival and falls in love with the enigmatic films. So enamored is Lucy that she travels to Italy in the hopes of meeting the legendary filmmaker, in the process getting introduced to the real world, both the bad and the good of it.

The film's writing is generally well done, though a couple aspects of the story require some suspension of disbelief. I didn't find that any of these moments too damaging however, though occasionally just a little distracting.

The visuals were excellent; From beautiful wide shots of Italy too party scenes where vivid color usage livens things up, the film was nice looking and more importantly did a great job of placing how Lucy was viewing these scenes and events onto the screen. Her sense of excitement and wonder at the beauty of the Colosseum, for instance, along with her feelings of confusion during a hectic dance scene. Very well done indeed by the first-time director Taron Lexton and his cinematographer.

I admit to not being a connoisseur of Frederico Fellini, though I have found what I have watched of his films enjoyable. The people behind "In Search of Fellini" obviously have great admiration of the late filmmaker, as their movie is chock full of references and parallels to his films. From the obvious (such as the appearance of the 'man in chains') to the subtler (Lucy's striped shirt) the love of Fellini is everywhere, and just seeing how much these filmmakers admired him adds even more charm to an already charming film.

My favorite part of the movie however was Ksenia Solo's performance as Lucy. Already a big fan of Miss Solo's previous work, I think this may be her finest performance yet. Her Lucy is naïve and shy, though occasionally rash, but also curious and the primary source of the aforementioned charm. Miss Solo delivers all of this and a wide range of emotion throughout the film, in my opinion just top-notch work. The other actors do their part too though, Maria Bello as Lucy's mother Claire and Mary Lynn Rajskub as Claire's sister both deliver good performances as well.

My main criticisms of the film are the previously mentioned parts of the story that require 'suspension of disbelief', but also the fact the film is occasionally melodramatic. There are more than a few times where some more subtlety would have been welcome.

All in all, In Search of Fellini is probably not a brilliant film, but it is certainly a good one. Wonder-filled with some dramatic punch to boot, I found it thoroughly enjoyable. 8/10.

You don't have to be a Fellini fan to enjoy and appreciate this movie, but if you have some familiarity, you will catch the references built into both the story and the cinematography (which is beautiful) and the Fellini clips integrated throughout. The story is a stylized, semi-autobiographical view of a solo trip co-writer Nancy Cartwright made to Italy in her early 20s after becoming enamored of the films of Federico Fellini. Ksenia Solo as Lucy, gives a wonderful performance, growing from wide eyed innocence and naivety through her experiences, good and bad (and bizarre). Her eyes alone speak volumes in every scene. Maria Bello and Mary Lynn Rajskub as Lucy's mother and aunt also shine as they negotiate their relationships both with Lucy and each other.

USA Film Festival 2017 Greetings again from the darkness. Even In this age of "helicopter parenting" it's disconcerting to see such flagrant over-protectiveness as that perpetuated by Maria Bello's character on her daughter Lucy. For film lovers, it's even more disheartening to see how the mother uses "happy ending" movies such as It's a Wonderful Life to create the social bubble that results in 20 year old Lucy having never been kissed, and having no concept of reality (outside of what she has seen in movies).

Contrary to what that set-up would have us believe, director Taron Lexton's film is actually less Coming-of-Age and more 'Welcome to the Universe', and Lucy's journey of self-discovery is quite enjoyable to behold. Co-written by Nancy Cartwright and Peter Kjenaas, it's the 'based on a true story' of Ms. Cartwright's own personal journey prior to her nearly 30 year run as the voice of Bart Simpson.

Lucy (Ksenia Solo, Black Swan) is off on an interview-gone-wrong when she stumbles into a Fellini film festival. She is immediately entranced by the obscure imagery and often less-than-happy endings. In fact, she connects with the films in such a manner that she is inspired to travel to Italy and meet with the Maestro himself. Ms. Cartwright's real life motivation stemmed from watching Fellini's La Strada (1954), and she instantly saw herself in Gelsomina (played by the spirited Giuletta Masina).

Her travels through Italy are filled with ups and downs, and Lucy crosses paths with good people and bad. It's her first true life experience and we are along for the ride. The structure of the story is such that as Lucy is discovering life, her mother (Bello) is back home in Ohio slowly losing her battle with cancer while being nursed by her straight-talking sister (Mary Lynn Rajskub, Chloe from "24"). Such contrasting elements would fit right in to a Fellini film.

At some point, most movie lovers experience the awakening that occurs when graduating from pleasant, feel good family movies to more esoteric and philosophical cinema. Fortunately, this awakening typically occurs before age 20 and does not require an international trip or dying mother to allow us to grow as a person. Ms. Cartwright's willingness to share her story makes for interesting filmmaking and one of the more unusual coming-of-age (or Welcome to the Universe) twists that we've seen on screen.

I don't recall exactly how I found this film just a short while ago, but it looked like a light, pleasant tale that included some beautiful Italian settings and an interesting arty plot. I was right with the settings, but this film delivered quite the punch just as it very likely planned to align with the beauty, but also the dramatic content of Fellini's films. I'm far from an expert on Fellini and I've only glimpsed a few scenes over the years, but I think I understand the stature of his work. So if the emotions conjured up by this little modern gem is similar to that of the maestro, I should try have a deeper look at Fellini's work.

So, I was rather surprised and taken aback a few times with the seriousness, fear and emotional weight of some of the scenes in this film. Many other scenes were almost pure art form and created quite the ball of confusion. What was she really experiencing and seeing? And how could the opening message of "Inspired by a almost true story" be true? In IMDB, it says that the film was inspired by a real adventure taken by co-writer Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson. I'm going to rate this is solid 7 or possibly an 8 for the simple reason I think I want to watch it again.

It was beautiful, sad, sexy, scary, joyful, hopeful. It was a real rollercoaster of a ride. But it's not for everyone, maybe not an enjoyable ride for many people. But I liked it, a lot. 7/10.