Amarcord

Summit film of all Fellini's concerns.

A slice of life dramedy that waxes nostalgic about Italy before the war. It’s funny, outrageous and poignant. Well worth the watch.

At first I thought it was a badly aged film that tries to portray the life of a people from a fascist Italy. However, little by little, one enters the film and notices that it does not matter the year in which you see them. They are the phases of life, or in other words: how ridiculous our existence is, how we let go out sexual impulses in youth, our absurd ideologies. I don't know how to explain it, however I can see a subtle criticism hidden. I mean, it does not matter when it is recorded, this kind of films will always be "old", because we have the impression of living in the "future", of being the modern generation, but it only changes our environment, because as far as we are concerned as humans ... _nihil novum sub sole_.

Feels like watching someone’s memory projected on screen: absurd, nostalgic, messy, and beautiful. Amarcord isn’t about plot or structure. It’s about vibes, people, feelings, and Fellini’s magic way of turning chaos into cinema.

Maybe not his strongest film, but definitely one of his most personal. The characters are exaggerated, the tone jumps between comedy and melancholy, and the narrative is loose. Yet somehow, it all works.

It’s a love letter to a past that may have never existed, but still feels familiar. A film you don’t need to understand. Just experience it.

Like a warm nostalgia blanket, even for a period I have no experience or familiarity with. This felt like Uncle Fellini just telling stories and I was sort of here for it and sort of not.