Review of Amarcord (1973) by Kevin N — 02 Jun 2011

Most would label Federico Fellini's imaginative 1963 opus '8 1/2' his best film, but for my money his talent is on its best display with this colorful, nostalgic, artistic and hysterical masterpiece in which he revels in the bizarre remnants of his childhood and doesn't bother to let the facts bog him down.

If it seems that history has anything to do with the film's story, it is only a facade; instead, Fellini creates a vivid world of his own with characters that are actually caricatures, mutants constructed from only the most interesting and exaggerated of the director's mental notes.

This world is easy to become absorbed in because it is made of the very boundlessness that all of our minds are made of, and, like Jacques Tati's best films, Fellini gives us the freedom to filter through his enormous frames and focus in on the things we find most fascinating.

The story avoids narrative structure and presents itself instead in episodic bursts; many of the sequences end with a cut which interrupts a fade, as if Fellini had to interrupt his own dreams lest they become tedious or pretentious.

And though the film is rich in intelligent human observations, it also isn't afraid to get down and dirty. The film has an infatuation with big bottoms, fart jokes and breasts, and it indulges itself at every opportune moment.

As entertaining as it is beautiful, this is one of the endearing masterworks by a gifted artist, one that may find it impossible to age.