someguy889

It is here that we have a Fellini documentary, about (what else?) Fellini himself. This movie was made after a failure of another film he wanted to make and on the verge of Satyricon. Fellini, in familiar nonsensical fashion, travels around Rome, visiting the odd characters that we have come to see in many of his films. At first, the similarity between the characters of such films as 8 1/2 and La Dolce Vita is striking. But this is a documentary, leading me to wonder how much of this documentary Fellini actually planned. For example, when he is trapped in his room by countless eccentric characters who want to be in Satyricon, suddenly three of the women are dressed in Roman prostitute clothing. It may be that Fellini simply asked them to do this, if they were already so desperate to be in his movie themselves. Nevertheless, there's the woman on the accordian singing about Fortune, the man who tells Fellini to behold his bird-like whistling son, and the giant who walks up wondering if he can be in the film. We also get glimpses into the dreamlike lives of Marcello Mastrioanni (where, in an ironic twist, the man who plays Fellini so well gives Fellini some advice for his own life) and Giulietta Masina, and other characters who struggle to speak-a English for the camera.This is, in a way, 8 1/2 after 8 1/2. And the movie, being only an hour long, might be called "9". The way Fellini presents himself, he is living in a dream-like city, where time has gone by yet stayed still all the while, where eccentric characters crowd his study and where he is harsh and blunt with them, but where he comes to the realization that he needs these characters more than they need him. He needs their imperfections and oddities (we get to meet the clairvoyant seen in La Dolce Vita and Juliet of the Spirits), because in the end, Fellini's just as weird as they are.

My grade: 8/10

There it is! The king of the jungle, pacing back and forth, roaring at his vast domain! Look at this lion's bulging muscles, his indelible passion for life, his courage, his might, his ferocity. There he is! Caged in a zoo on the streets of dark London. He's being poked and provoked by an officer of some kind. The ferocious Lion is caged, and there's nothing he can do about it. But you can see his anger, an anger that has perhaps never been greater in his life. You can see it in the way this beast walks, in the way he roars, in his eyes and the way he moves his tail. Perhaps, back in the jungle, this lion was smaller than the rest, weaker than the rest, but here, in his cage, that doesn't matter. People can look upon him and scream because he's big, but what does he care? There's concrete under his feet now, there are bars in front of him. Maybe this was a movie made for a thrill, but what it does is capture perfectly and strikingly caged ferocity, and how some things are beyond anyone's powers.

My grade: 8/10

The Barbershop is another short that I saw on the Landmarks of Early Film DVD. A guy walks up to a barbershop, a man is getting shaved, and another man is there reading the newspaper. The newspaper reading man says something to the waiting man and they both start laughing. Then the shave is done. It lasts about 20 seconds. Then the whole scene is repeated again! The exact same scene. It took me a few seconds to realize that I was watching the same thing twice. Although this short doesn't have the amazing insight and stuff of the Lumiere shorts, and seems much more planned and acted, and the insight into the life in only the most narrow of forms, I thought it was a delightful little short, pointing out the hilarious repititions of every day life.

My grade: 7/10