Review of Amarcord (1973) by Nat G — 22 Jan 2009

Amarcord, is an episodic drama, which examines life in a small Adriatic village just before Mussolini's reign in the 1930s. As the weather changes and spring arrives, the village holds a festival in which it burns a symbolic bonfire and celebrates new life. This gathering in the central square is the first of many others throughout the film. Each time the community assembles, its colourful members show themselves in full force, boasting their bizarre, disjointed personalities, and pure mischief is the result. The film takes on a circusy, chaotic tone, and breaks up into several memorably surreal sequences, a few of which follow a young man named Titta who represent the director himself, who wanders in and out of the animated provincial landscape. The beautiful clashes with the grotesque and politics and family matters blend together while sex is offset by violence in the inimitable style.

I understand this film to be a film about the year in the life of the directors life back in the 1930's. There doesn't seem to be a plot and it seems to skip from story to story. I don't know if this film is being funny or is a serious attempt of looking back at reality. I found the film slow in places, interesting in others, crazy else wear and totally off the wall, not knowing what was coming next. This is really not my cup of tea and maybe I need to look into the history of this film to make sense of it. Sometimes the film looks like the directors put real effort in getting the shot looking good, with lighting and great settings, but then other times it seems the films been made by a five year old. I'm really not sure about this film and I would not recommend it.