Review of Amarcord (1973) by Michael H — 10 Feb 2011

Okay. It's time to admit it. I don't know what it is, but I just don't "get" Fellini. I've seen four of his films (I Vitelloni, La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2 and this one) and the only one I was able to connect with even a little was La Dolce Vita. The others, containing isolated moments of perfection and countless minutes of...I don't know. I just don't know.

Amarcord is no different, as the film is based on his experiences growing up in Fascist Italy (the title meaning "I Remember") Almost everything in the film FEELS personal and feels like it meant something to Fellini, and I can respect that. I'm just at a loss as what it means to me.

The film consists of a series of vignettes of people acting like obnoxious children for just a hair over two hours. I know many watched this and felt charmed, but for the first forty minutes, I felt restlessness as the characters pine for big breasted fat women, pee in class, yell at family, threaten each other's lives (comically of course, but then again, maybe not) and various other contrievances.

None of it connected until the Fascists segments, where the film conveyed a glimmer that maybe, just maybe! that the first forty minutes weren't so aimless after all...the wild care-free, devil may care attitude of the villagers meets the brutal enforcement of the country's hot new political idealogy? A scene dramatizing this with the old man is perfect, utterly perfect. The shift in tone is both breathtaking and heartbreaking, the calm after the storm isn't so calm and when silliness breaks out in his house again, its serves as both honest observation and an act of defiance. I felt the grin on my face that I often get when a movie is really beginning to work.

The grin disapeered quickly after though, and never came back. Fellini resumes his circus-as-life shtick that he began the film with, continuing it for most of the remainder of the film. By the time the snow comes, I just didn't care anymore. The fascist segments had lost the power they had, and like the stupid song goes, they became just another brick in the wall. The only coherence in this material was Fellini's love of it, but for me, it wasn't enough. All I could see in this "brilliance" was a pile of obnoxious characters that I would never be caught dead with in real life, starring in whimsically flimsy drama that meant nothing to me. Two stars...one for Fellini infusing a considerable amount of energy into it, and the other for a couple decent scenes that promise so, so much more than Fellini could deliver.