As World War II ended the movies were changed forever by impoverished Italian filmmakers who saw in the rubble and the aftermath of wartime carnage vivid portrayals of life as it really is. These were the neorealists whose profound influence on cinema continues. From their ranks emerged Federico Fellini (1920 – 1993) who soon split […]
As World War II ended the movies were changed forever by impoverished Italian filmmakers who saw in the rubble and the aftermath of wartime carnage vivid portrayals of life as it really is. These were the neorealists whose profound influence on cinema continues. From their ranks emerged Federico Fellini (1920 – 1993) who soon split from neorealism to create his own kind of poetic, dream-like, satirical and knowing cinema. In the newly released comprehensive blockbuster ‘Essential Fellini’ (Blu-ray, Criteria Collection, R), which is extraordinary in every way and marks 100 years after his birth, there are 15 Blu-ray Special Editions, new 4K restorations of 11 features. For anyone who has yet to see a Fellini film, you can choose from the early ‘50s, the Mod ‘60s, the decadent and lustrous ‘70s or the reflective 1980s. What’s apparent with the earliest films here – ‘Variety Lights’ (’50), ‘The White Sheik’ and the heartbreaking ‘I Vittelloni’ (’53) – is that Fellini was Fellini way before the world knew FELLINI! ‘La Strada’ in 1954, a brutal tale of a strongman (Anthony Quinn) and his beaten and abused wife (Giulietta Masina aka Mrs. Federico Fellini), brought global recognition. So did the ’57 ‘Nights of Cabiria’ again with Masina (it was remade for Broadway and Hollywood as ‘Sweet Charity’). In 1960 Fellini’s ‘La Dolce Vita’ became one of those films that in reflecting the world becomes something more than a mere movie. A series of encounters in contemporary Rome with Marcello Mastroianni as a disillusioned journalist and Anita Ekberg as a visiting movie star whose walk in the Trevi fountain remains like Marilyn Monroe’s windswept dress in ‘The Seven Year Itch’ all you need to see to realize the enduring power of cinema. Fellini increasingly became a dreamer with the camera shifting, slinking, revolving around a world that seemed here and not here. ‘Juliet of the Spirits’ (1965) marked his first film in color; he would never return to black and white. Here are ‘Fellini Satyricon’ (’69), ancient Rome as divinely decadent, ‘Roma’ (’72), a celebration of his city with a cameo to Anna Magnani, the ‘she-wolf’ at the birth of Italian neorealism, ‘Amarcord’ (’73), a jaunty yet melancholy look back at his youth. ‘Essential Fellini’ also has a digital restoration of his 1968 short ‘Toby Dammit’ with Terence Stamp, a television film ‘Fellini: A Director’s Notebook,’ the feature documentary ‘Fellini: I’m a Born Liar’ (2002) and the 3-hours-plus 1997 doc ‘Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember.’ There’s more! Four behind-the scenes docs, a Belgian TV 4-part,2-hour Fellini interview, plus a Masina 2004 documentary and the French television documentary on ‘La Dolce Vita’ from 2009. Audio commentaries are on 6 of the films. The Deluxe packaging includes 2 illustrated books and multiple essays by film critics, a filmmaker and novelist Colm Tobin. Finally, a survey of Don Young’s extensive Fellini memorabilia. In size, the Deluxe box set resembles a 33 record collection. I met Fellini just once, at a reception at, of all places, Trump Tower.
