8½

First of all I have to say that Otto e Mezzo is my first Federico Fellini film. I've heard a lot about this film before because many call it a masterpiece but I didn't know nothing about the story. I choosed it to be my first just because it's one of his most talked about films.

There are some amazing sequences during the entire film, a mix of reality and fantasy where many things that at first might seem strange and might not do many sense when you started seeing beneath them you'll perfectly understand their meaning.

I think the opening sequence is my favourite, when Guido has the claustrophobic dream about being trapped inside of a car in the middle of the traffic. It's absolutely stunning and basicaly represents everything that we are about to see next.

Guido Anselmi a film director, is a man that is trapped inside himself, with no new ideas and nothing knew to do. This man is perfectly aware of what he is and what he already accomplished in life and that's why it will be different to surprise or continue to be praise by everyone who love him.
While everyone around the business still love him, and they are all anxiously waiting for his next work he can't stand the idea that he simply just can't have the imagination to create something new or be someone else. He is what he is and nothing will change. He has to be accepted the way he is, and also be humble to accept others the way they are.

After finish it I did a little research because I wanted to know the reason of the film's title and I discovered that this was Fellini's 8th film and it is a self portrait what makes it even more fantastic and interesting.

I think this is another one of those films that is easier to be experienced than explained but I can affirm that it is a brilliant piece of cinema art.

8½ is one of the best movies about film making, within a fantasy that clashes with reality.




Short answer = It's a masterpiece

Honestly, I don't buy the "life is a feast" philosophy behind "8 1/2", but the flamboyant way it is visually translated into cinema is so unique that I can't but simply love this film and get lost in Guido's mind each time. The world is shown from the artist's eye, with no cues to help us distinguish daydream from reality. It might seem complicated at first, but making order out of chaos becomes relatively easy once you memorized all characters from each domain.

Eventually, the film is about nothing: all we get is the self-portrait of a man who is reflecting upon his role as an artist: his responsibilities towards his financiers, the pressure of his audience's expectations, the growing gap between the person he wants to be perceived as and the person he actually is (the king of Vitelloni), the way childhood, religion, and private troubles continuously influence his artistic vision. Narcissistic as hell, but definitely convincing.

Obviously, I loved the last scene like everyone else, but I still think that Fellini's original idea could have been even better.

This is a movie that is about as ambitious as they come. After watching and enjoying Woody Allen's Stardust Memories I decided to give this one a shot. Like Allen's film this movie is a film about film making. Not unlike Adaptation, 8 1/2 blends the life of the director into the movie itself until it becomes a surreal experience. This film went on to inspire numerous directors - you can see pieces of the film in movies like Pulp Fiction and Being John Malkovich.

And now some truth - I've tried to watch this movie twice and I've fallen asleep in the middle both times. I RARELY fall asleep during movies. I can appreciate the endeavor but the pacing got the better of me.

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I think I liked it. It is a little weird at first but starts to make sense. It has some great cinematography. The story is more interesting after finding out it is sorta semi biographical of the director. I probably need to see it again to even come close to understanding it.

A 7 rating is a placeholder, because it felt like there was too much going on here to take in all at once. Full of cross-cutting dialogue, flashbacks, dream sequences, avant-garde imagery, it's overwhelming to the senses and for my first viewing I found myself letting it wash over me. It was sharply funny at times and I loved it far more than its peer films of the era, but it'll take another viewing (or more) to really parse how I feel about it.

An alternate title of the film is Otto e mezzo.

Mencoba menangkap apa yg baru saja ditonton selama durasi 2 jam lebih yg disuguhkan, akhirnya mendapat sedikit kesimpulan dan entah bakal mispersepsi atau ndak.

Film pertama dari sutradara Federico Fellini yg saya tonton, Fellini merupakan salah satu filmaker paling berpengaruh yg meraih banyak penghargaan di berbagai ajang termasuk oscar dan festival cannes.

Dibuka dengan scene fantasy unik yg membuat saya ternganga, wow such an art. Film ini mencampur adukkan antara realita, fantasi, dan kenangan, kadang agak susah membedakan diantara ketiganya. Bercerita tentang seorang sutradara dan bersetting selama masa pre produksi film yg akan dibuatnya. Film ini seperti semi theatrical dengan balutan tone monokrome, makna tersembunyi dari sajian metafora yg saya dapat adalah ini tentang impian, harapan, hasrat, kenangan, serta keresahan manusia.

Memang bukan film untuk semua orang, saya sendiri kurang nyaman menontonnya. Andai saja scene awal bisa lebih d perbanyak di sepanjang durasi mungkin bisa jadi film favorit sepanjang masa.

Well made and an absolute milestone in the history of film but incredibly boring.

Paco Film: 8½, beautiful frames and photography, call argument is to be kind, Fellini is nuts