8 ½ Movie Review

An early 1960’s film, 8 ½ creates a realistic look at Federico Fellini’s life as a director.  It’s a clever little depiction of what seems to be somewhat about his life.  An Italian director, Guido, finds himself on struggling with ideas for his newest film after just coming off of one of his most prestigious films of his career.

Throughout the movie Guido, while enjoying the rigors of fame and Alpha-male experiences; uses past childhood, affairs of the heart and extreme pressures from producers in order to develop what is to be his next big hit.  His intense depiction of women of what seems to be derived from every facet of his life, mother, wife, mistress, friends, actresses, and most any female kind; which most of us could only dream of, is used as motivation and symbolism for the bases of his ideas.  It seems fitting that the title of the film is exactly that…his 8 and ½ movie made and ironically is almost a hodge-podge of all his thoughts and journey to the next movie idea. Fellini uses metaphors and imagery of both past and present to create emotional visualizations that can be confusing at first but then conform into a brilliant masterpiece.

His timeless storyline of reality along with fantasy is the bases of one of my favorites The Never Ending Story. Hollywood and filmmakers have forever used this method of story telling with great success. A brilliant triumph and a must see, Fellini breaks through and leaves you daring to root for through a journey of emotional baggage a film maker’s block.