36
8
1/2
Release date 14th February 1963
Country : Italy
Running time : 138 mins
Genre : Drama
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale
Screenplay by Federico Fellini
Directed by Federico Fellini
A movie director about to embark on a sci-fi epic has a crisis of confidence.
The ultimate cinematic stream of consciousness in which it is often difficult to separate the real world from the dreams of a director struggling for ideas for his new film. It is a very personal film for the real director and the hero is really his alter ego, some may criticise for pretensiousness and plotlessness but this is definitely a film in which the visuals come first which is what cinema should be about. Those are incredibly vivid and capture so much of the feeling of the subject matter.
Inviting criticism for pretensiousness Fellini revealed that the title referred to the number of films he had made up to that time : 6 features, 2 shorts, a half for a co-direction and finally this one making 8 1/2.
At one point Fellini considered Laurence Olivier for the role of the film director.
DVD
available from the Criterion Collection:Release date 14th February 1963
Country : Italy
Running time : 138 mins
Genre : Drama
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale
Screenplay by Federico Fellini
Directed by Federico Fellini
A movie director about to embark on a sci-fi epic has a crisis of confidence.
The ultimate cinematic stream of consciousness in which it is often difficult to separate the real world from the dreams of a director struggling for ideas for his new film. It is a very personal film for the real director and the hero is really his alter ego, some may criticise for pretensiousness and plotlessness but this is definitely a film in which the visuals come first which is what cinema should be about. Those are incredibly vivid and capture so much of the feeling of the subject matter.
Inviting criticism for pretensiousness Fellini revealed that the title referred to the number of films he had made up to that time : 6 features, 2 shorts, a half for a co-direction and finally this one making 8 1/2.
At one point Fellini considered Laurence Olivier for the role of the film director.
BBC Online (UK Edition)
DVD Talk
DVD Beaver
37 35
Written content copyright Derek McLellan,2005.
Copyright © The Fedora Chronicles
