Review of I Vitelloni (1953) by John H — 16 Jun 2011

I Vitelloni is not my favorite from Fellini, but it shows him doing what Baumbach did so well with Kicking and Screaming. The vitellonis are frustrating. They are all men who should be mature and working in the world, instead they are living with their parents and goofing around.

The most aggravating of the bunch is Fausto. He is a player. He flirts with as many women as he sleeps with (or so it seems). He can't contain himself. Getting Sandra pregnant and marrying her doesn't slow him down one bit.

When he comes back from their honeymoon he is ready to go with other women. At first I was thinking "poor Sandra," but then I was going "you deserve it you freaking moron." Seriously, the woman is an idiot.

I understand that she wanted to relationship to work out so well that she believed what wasn't believable, but it's just so damn aggravating! Take you son and get the hell outta there! Then you have Alberto, the jokester of the group who wants to make sure his sister is with someone respectable, which is ironic since he's not a respectable man himself.

Leopoldo wants to be a master playwright someday, which he gets his chance when he meets his favorite stage actor. Moraldo is the best of them all. He is beginning to see the problem with all of this.

His sister is Sandra, and he hates that she is letting herself get stepped on by Fausto. He's tired of seeing opportunities put in front of his friend's faces and they screw it up. He befriends a young kid that works at the railroad station and he realizes that even though he is young and seems to not understand his questions, he still has more figured out than him.

The film could have used more of a general focus. For example, I don't remember Riccardo at all. It relies too much on the relationship of Sandra and Fausto. I understand it, and I'm sure since that is based on Fellini's sister and her husband that he wanted to share his aggravation for their decisions, but I just think it was too heavy for the general idea of the film.

Other than that, it was pretty brilliant. Glad he inspired so many brilliant filmmakers with I Vitelloni.